Angels and Demons
by eldaearien
Summary: Celeste is the new art teacher at a high school in Mystic Falls—a mysterious, small Virginia town. She moved there hoping to find peace and to get away from her past. Little did she know that she was unknowingly going to be thrown into the world of supernatural beings.
1. Chapter 1 - New in Town

Hi everyone! This is my first fanfiction, hope everyone enjoys it. Please read and review :) **Disclaimer: Do not own Vampire Diaries. **

Celeste sighed as she pulled into the school parking lot. Arriving at her classroom, she set her book bag down and wrote her name on the chalkboard. Celeste sat down at her desk, took a sip of her coffee, and pulled out her current selection of reading. Today was her first day of teaching at Mystic Falls High. Although she had been teaching for a while, no one would guess that she had moved to Mystic Falls because she was running away from her previous life. She just couldn't seem to find anywhere where she could escape her past. Hopefully this would be the place where she could escape and start fresh. Checking her watch again, she saw it was 7:57…students would start coming in at any moment. She looked up as she saw the first students walk into class. A couple of them gave her shy smiles, whereas other ones just totally ignored her and went straight to their seats, seemingly not awake yet for the day.

Stifling a yawn, Celeste stood up as the last couple of students came in at the last minute. She shuffled through her paperwork looking for her list of students. When she finally found it, she cleared her throat and began to call out students' names.

"Joseph Davies, Samantha Grayson….." Celeste looked up as she read each name and nodded to each student who raised their hand when their name was called and the list went on and on.

"Well, my name is Miss Morrison, but you can call me Celeste. Now, I only have one rule in all of my classes: respect. Respect each other, respect me, and I will respect you. With that being said, let's get started." Celeste wasn't a strict teacher, in fact she loved teaching and loved being able to be a friend with students. She figured that they had enough authority figures that were making their lives difficult and didn't need to add an art teacher to that list. Besides, art was supposed to be about making people feel something and to express your individuality. Being a strict and mean teacher wouldn't really help in that particular area. Now, if they failed to respect her and fellow students, that's where the authoritative figure would come out but not until that happened. But, this particular teaching method had worked in every classroom and she rarely had any problems with students.

After school let out, Celeste gathered up her things and walked out to her car. If a person were to open up her car trunk, they would see a myriad of art supplies. It was very much so an organized chaos. Before she started the car to leave, she briefly checked her watch. It was half past three. Suddenly feeling her phone vibrating in her pocket, she grabbed it and checked who was calling. The screen read _James Armenta Calling_. Celeste quickly ignored the call and replaced her phone in her pocket. Celeste wondered how James could have possibly gotten her new cell phone number. She made a mental note that she would need to change it again. She prayed that she could remain here in Mystic Falls, hidden away from everything. She hadn't even heard of this small town before she researched it to move here.

Shrugging her book bag into the passenger seat of her car, she started the engine and drove away to her new house. After arriving home, Celeste crashed on the couch and just rested for a moment. Just as she was getting up to get a beer from the fridge, the doorbell suddenly rang. Groaning slightly, she walked to the door and opened the door to find a tall handsome man standing there. He had dark hair and piercing blue eyes and was wearing a black leather jacket with a blue shirt and a pair of dark jeans. Celeste thought she saw hunger flash in his eyes before he smiled charmingly at her.

"Can I help you?" Celeste asked with a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"Yes, I was wondering if I could come in and use your phone." He gave her his most encouraging smile. Not trusting him at all, Celeste thought quickly trying to come up with an excuse for her not to invite him into her house.

"Sorry, I just moved here so my phone isn't hooked up. Maybe you could try next door?" She smiled at him, but it didn't reach her eyes. Suddenly, he stepped very close to the door and got right into her face. She resisted the urge to take a step backwards as he came up to the door, seemingly in the blink of an eye.

"You will open the door and invite me inside," He said firmly, his eyes dilating slightly. Celeste clenched her jaw as she said, "Like I said, my phone isn't hooked up. Now, goodnight." As she said this, she slammed the door in his face.

Damon Salvatore frowned as the woman slammed the door in his face. He usually never had any problems with new people in town, which is why he preferred to feed on those people because they were often easy to compel and were ignorant of the existence of vampires.

88888888

When Damon arrived back at the boarding house, he slammed the door shut. Listening for a second, he smirked retrieving a blood bag and going upstairs. As he walked into Stefan's room he saw his little brother and his girlfriend, Elena Gilbert, locked in a tight embrace kissing passionately.

"We have a problem," Damon stated as he opened his blood bag and began to drink. He chuckled as Stefan and Elena jumped hearing his voice.

"Damon! There is such a thing as knocking you know," Elena said glaring at him.

Damon rolled his eyes slightly before replying, "Oh please. I have seen and done it all. Anyway, there's a new teacher in town."

"And why is that a problem?" Stefan spoke up now eyeing his brother.

"Well here's the thing. See, I normally like to introduce myself to the new people in town, get acquainted, drink their blood before they get on vervain, etcetera. But, when I tried to compel the sexy new teacher, she couldn't be compelled. So either she knows about vampires and is on vervain or she is Wonder Woman," Damon explained sarcastically.

"How do you even know that she is the new teacher?" Elena asked, confused.

"Well we do have our own teacher who is on the inside of the school," Damon replied referring to Alaric Saltzman.

"So. I propose that you or Stefan get all buddy buddy with the teacher and see what you can find out about her and what she knows. She also lives across the street from you Elena, so that should be easy" Damon said as he began to get up and walk away. "Oh I almost forgot, have good sex you two!" He called over his shoulder as he walked out of Stefan's room. Elena rolled her eyes before turning to Stefan.

"What do you think we should do?" She asked him.

"Well maybe we could invite her over to dinner with Alaric, Jenna, you and I. Like a 'welcome to Mystic Falls, do you know about vampires' dinner." Stefan replied grinning.

"That's a good idea. But maybe we should hold off on the whole vampires thing," Elena said chuckling.

"That's a great idea! I'll bring dessert," Damon smirked as he popped in his head back in their room before sauntering out again.

"I can't wait," Elena rolled her eyes, before she wound her arms around Stefan's neck and kissed him. Grinning, Stefan lifted her up and threw Elena on the bed while she laughed and pulled him on top of her.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Dinner Party

Chapter 2 – The Dinner Party

**A/N:** _First of all, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and/or started following my story. I really appreciate it! Secondly, I would like to explain a couple of things. So first of all, this story takes place in the beginning of season 2. Although you will have to give me a little grace because I had squeeze in some extra days deviating from what happens in the first episode to provide background story to Celeste, introduce her to characters, etc, so the plot won't happen all in one day the way it does in the first episode of season 2. Secondly, I am going to be pretty much following the storyline from the show, however, as the seasons go on I will probably do some things differently/add some things so be prepared for that. If I do get to season 4 it will definitely deviate from the season while still keeping the core plotline, I just really dislike season 4 and where the story ends up going, so I will probably be changing some things. Not mention the fact that my OC and Damon will be getting together eventually so season 4 would have to be very different to work with that. Lastly, I'm going to do my best to update once a week. Without further ado here is the second chapter, please read and review! _

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries._**

Celeste groaned as her alarm clock kept incessantly beeping. She slapped her hand around on her bedside table before her hand found the snooze button. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and stretched before getting out of bed. In a matter of minutes she had emerged out of her room dressed and ready for the day. Checking her watch briefly she happily realized she had just enough time to grab a cup of coffee before having to be at the school for her first class. Quickly draining her glass of coffee, she grabbed her supplies and headed out to her car to leave.

Her first class went very well. She felt like she was connecting with the students and that they were enjoying it. As she was organizing her stuff in between classes, she heard a soft knock on the door.

"Come in!" Celeste called out as she kept rifling through her supplies.

"Um, Miss Morrison?" Celeste looked up to the see the owner of the voice. It was a girl who had long brown hair, olive skin and kind, brown eyes.

"Please, call me Celeste," Celeste smiled at the girl before asking, "What can I help you with?"

"Well, my name is Elena Gilbert and I actually live across the street from you. I was wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner and meet my family and just welcome you to the town." Elena smiled kindly at Celeste. Celeste was kind of taken aback by this invitation and wasn't even all too sure how Elena knew that she lived across the street from her. Mentally shrugging in her head, she thought, what it could hurt to meet some people and get connected.

"Oh, that is really nice of you. I would love to. When were you thinking?" Celeste answered her.

"Great. Does tonight work for you?" Elena asked hopefully.

"Well, since I don't know anyone here in this town it's not like I have plans or anything," Celeste laughed answering her.

"Sounds perfect, see you around 7," Elena smiled before leaving the classroom. Celeste was happy that she would be able to get to know some people from the town, but at the same time she was nervous about getting close or attached to anyone. She had found in the past that she usually brought pain to the people in her life, which is why she tended to stay isolated. Shaking these thoughts from her head she convinced herself she was just being paranoid and needed to get out more and that this was the perfect opportunity. Stealing a quick look at her watch, she realized her next class was going to start in a few minutes and she needed to get her materials together.

88888888

Elena breathed a sigh of relief as she walked out of the art teacher's classroom. She was going to come to the dinner. Luckily, Elena didn't have to worry about her Uncle John since he had left town after Katherine attacked him because Stefan threatened him to get him to leave. Even though they still had the slight problem of Katherine, those problems could wait a night. As she walked to her locker she looked up and saw Stefan waiting for her by her locker.

"How did it go?" He asked.

Elena smiled and answered, "She's going to come, although I haven't even thought about what to cook for dinner."

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it," Stefan smiled before kissing her on her forehead. Elena smiled gratefully at him before grabbing her books and they both left for their next class.

88888888

Celeste dumped her supplies on her kitchen table after arriving home from a long day of teaching. Looking at her watch she saw that it was 4:00, she had enough time to go on a run and still be back in time to shower and be able to get ready for the dinner tonight. She quickly changed then headed out the door for her run. She shivered slightly as she started to stretch; the weather was starting to get a cool crisp to it. After one last quick stretch, she put in her ear buds and started jogging, not knowing that she was being closely watched by a figure in a car parked near her house.

88888888

Katherine Pierce stared at Celeste as she started jogging in the opposite direction. Katherine had heard about her before. She was a supernatural entity, there were very few like her left in the world. Katherine smirked as she got out her phone and dialed the familiar number. The phone rang once before the man on the other line answered.

"Yes?" He answered impatiently.

"Hello, James. It's so nice to hear your voice again. I trust you are well?" Katherine purred to James Armenta.

"What do you want, Katherine?" His voice had suddenly gained a hard edge to it.

"I know where your precious specimen of divine nature is. I'm just dying to get a taste of her blood; word on the town is she's a rare breed." Katherine smoothly said, fully knowing she was toying with the man's brain.

"Don't you touch her, you don't know what her blood does to animals like you." He growled into the phone, "Now tell me where she is. Now."

"Now, now, James. Don't get testy; patience is a virtue you know. Besides, right at this moment, it seems to me that I'm holding all the cards. I'm sure you wouldn't want Celeste to suddenly die—her species is going extinct, as you all too clearly know."

"What do you want, Katherine?" James asked, his voice as hard as steel.

"I want to know what her blood does to vampires and what she is capable of. In return, I will keep her in relatively good condition until you arrive and take her back to that hell hole that you call home," Katherine knew that James would go for this arrangement enthusiastically. He was, after all a desperate man, and desperate men do desperate things, no matter what the cost is.

"We don't know what blood of her kind does to vampires yet, we haven't been able to get a vampire who was willing to taste a sample," James smoothly lied. Katherine hesitated before replying.

"You're lying," she said in sing song voice before it dropped into a dangerous tone, "do _not_ underestimate me, James. I will kill her without a second's thought. Now, let's try this again, answer my question."

James heaved a defeated sigh before answering, "Fine. There have been different side effects when vampires drink her kind's blood. We have had cases where they drank her blood and they died within a day. There have been others that have drunk her blood and they were enhanced. They were stronger, faster, and harder to kill. We are still trying to figure out why it enhances some vampires and kills others. She also can't be compelled by any normal vampire. That's all I know, I swear."

"Interesting….well she is in Mystic Falls, Virginia. I will refrain from killing her, but don't keep me waiting, James." With that, Katherine hung up the phone. She smiled to herself, her plan was coming together quite nicely.

88888888

Celeste patted her hair dry as she stepped out of the shower. She had half an hour before she had to be at Elena's. It passed all too quickly and before she knew it she was walking across the street with a bottle of wine in her hand. She didn't know what to bring tonight so she decided on wine, it was pretty much always a safe bet to bring some sort of alcohol. Celeste paused before she hesitantly knocked on the door to Elena's house. A woman with reddish hair opened the door and smiled at her encouragingly.

"Hi, you must be Celeste. I'm Jenna, Elena's aunt." Jenna introduced herself.

"It's very nice to meet you. I brought wine, I wasn't sure what to bring so I thought you could never go wrong with a bottle of wine," Celeste smiled.

"That's a safe assumption," Jenna laughed before inviting her in. Celeste glanced around as she walked behind Jenna towards the kitchen and dining room. It was a nice homely house. As they walked into the kitchen, Celeste saw another teacher she recognized from the school and Elena was with a boy who she assumed was her boyfriend.

"Hey Celeste, it's so good to see you," Elena said warmly before saying, "this is my boyfriend, Stefan. And that's Alaric Saltzman, you probably recognize him from the school." Celeste shook Stefan's and Alaric's hand as Elena introduced them to her. Celeste frowned in confusion as she heard another knock at the door. She thought that these people were all that were going to be here tonight. Elena barely suppressed a groan before going to the door, knowing it was going to be Damon. When she opened it, Damon was standing there holding some sort of pie with a smirk on his face.

"Glad you could make it," Elena said sarcastically as he pushed past her and walked in the house. Celeste glanced up as the newcomer walked into the kitchen then quickly glared at him.

"Celeste, this is my brother, Damon," Stefan introduced Celeste to Damon. Celeste nodded curtly to Damon without smiling.

"Oh we have already met, brother." Damon smiled at Celeste. "We had a very pleasant conversation."

"By pleasant conversation are you referring to the fact that you were a dick or when you tried to barge in my house? I'm a little fuzzy on the details," Celeste snapped.

"Okay, let's open the wine, shall we?" Alaric said, quickly pouring Celeste a glass and handed it to her. Thankfully, before the tension in the room could get any thicker, Stefan announced that dinner was ready. He had offered to cook so Elena didn't have to worry about it. Not to mention that he was a better cook than she was anyway.

As they were all enjoying the food Damon said to Celeste, "So word on the town is that you are an art teacher, Celeste. What's that like?"

"Well, _Damon_," She spat his name, "it's pretty much self-explanatory…I teach art to students. This food is delicious, Stefan. Where did you learn to cook like this?" But before Stefan could answer, Damon spoke up again.

"Hmm, interesting. I couldn't teach brats their age. All their drama and hormones….it's not really my forte," Damon grinned.

"Probably because you have the maturity of a 7 year old…" Celeste muttered to herself. Then speaking up, she asked, "What do _you_ do, Damon? Besides being a jerk in your spare time."

"Oh, you know, nothing as cool as an art teacher," he smoothly evaded her question, then continued, "what made you decide to come to Mystic Falls? Not many people have even heard of this town, let alone move here all on their own." Damon asked, giving her a searching look. Stefan glared at Damon, apparently Damon was unclear that they were _subtly_ trying to find out information about Celeste.

"To be honest, I don't know why I moved to this specific town. It just sort of stood out to me. I was looking for a small town to start over in. Is that answer satisfactory to you, Damon?" Celeste eyed Damon with an eyebrow slightly raised and waiting for him to answer.

"Well…I was hoping for a more exciting answer but I suppose that will do." Damon then added, "Although one would wonder why out of all the small towns, you chose this particular one? I mean, it does seem like a coincidence don't you think?" He stared at her questioningly.

"God, you are impossible." Celeste grumbled.

"Damon, knock it off. Celeste is a guest in this house and you need to stop being such a dick." Alaric said sternly. Damon rolled his eyes at Alaric but decided to shut up and just try to enjoy the dinner.

The rest of the dinner was spent in idle chit chat and getting to know each other. Although Damon and Celeste didn't talk to each other they were both able to swallow their prides and at least be civil to each other. After they had eaten dessert, Celeste decided it was time for her to make her exit.

"Well, I am going to go. Thank you, all of you, I had a really great time and I appreciate you guys taking the time to get to know me. I look forward to getting together again." Elena stood up as Celeste began walking to the door and walked her out.

"I'm so sorry about Damon, Celeste. He can be really pushy and rude, but he does have a good heart. He is really rough on the outside, but on the inside he is a really good guy," Elena said as they stood outside on the porch. "Anyway thank you for coming, I will see you at school." Elena smiled at Celeste.

"Yes, I will see you at school," Celeste nodded to her, before walking off toward her house. Elena watched as Celeste went inside her house, before she herself walked back inside and shut the door.

Celeste ran a hand through her hair before she sat down at the table. That was an interesting dinner. She couldn't figure Damon out, she wondered why he wanted to know so badly why she had moved to Mystic Falls. He couldn't possibly know what she was, right? Celeste shook her head, willing those particular thoughts to disappear. There were very few people in the world who knew what she was and she was determined to keep it that way. Suddenly, her phone started ringing and she looked down at the screen. It read: _James Armenta Calling_. She growled in frustration and answered it.

"What?" She snapped into the phone.

"I know where you are, Celeste. I _will_ come and bring you back where you belong."

"How do you kn…" But James had already hung up the phone. She resisted the urge to throw her phone against the wall. Was there no where she could go where he wouldn't find her? She put her face in her hands and leaned her head on the table.

88888888

Elena finished brushing her teeth and walked out of her bathroom back into her bedroom and was startled to find Damon sitting on her bed.

"Oh god, you scared me." She gasped looking at him questioningly.

"Just doing my part in the neighborhood watch," Damon said to her, his words slurring slightly.

"Well, thanks for, um, looking out for us, for me." Elena stumbled over her words, still slightly puzzled why he was there.

"That's me, your trusty bodyguard. Calm in crisis," he said sarcastically.

"Have you been drinking?" Elena asked cautiously. Damon nodded, holding up two fingers to make the "a little" sign. "And you're upset…that's not a good combination," Elena sighed wearily.

"No, I'm not upset. Upset is an emotion specific to those who care," Damon all but spat out.

"Damon, come on. That's a lie. You care."

"You're surprised that I thought you would kiss me back?" Damon stood up and asked accusingly. He was, of course, referring to the fact that he kissed Katharine thinking that she was Elena. "You just can't imagine that I believed that you would want to?"

"Damon…." Elena softly spoke, not entirely wanting to open this particular can of worms right at the moment. But he continued on as if she hadn't even spoken.

"That what we have been doing here means something? You're the liar, Elena. There is something going on between the two of us and you know it!" Damon's voice rose slightly as he spoke to her. He got even closer to her and continued, "And you're lying to me, and you're lying to Stefan, and most of all, you're lying to yourself. I can prove it."

"No," Elena said desperately, but knowing that Damon wouldn't listen to her. He grabbed her face and starting kissing her, Elena struggled slightly before totally pulling away from him.

"Damon, don't! What is wrong with you?"

"Lie about this," He said and tried leaning down to kiss her again.

"Stop it! You're better than this, come on." Elena said desperately.

"That's where you're wrong," Damon said as he leaned down, but Elena shoved him away and all but yelled at him, "No, no, Damon! I care about you. Listen to me, I care about you. I do… But I love Stefan. It's always going to be Stefan."

Damon grimaced as he heard her words. Those were the exact words Katherine had said to him earlier that night when she rejected him. Elena looked at him with concern in her eyes, she could see that he was hurting but she didn't know why. Suddenly, Jeremy appeared at the doorway, hearing the commotion that they had made.

"Elena, what's going on?" He asked, taking in the fact that Damon had Elena's wrist firmly in his grasp. Elena quickly pulled her wrist out of Damon's hand.

"Nothing, Jeremy. Just go back to bed."

"No, it's not okay, Elena," Damon glanced at her before looking back at Jeremy, "He wants to be a vampire." With a flash he was in front of Jeremy, pinning him against the wall.

"No, Damon. Stop it!" Elena cried out.

"You want to shut out the pain? It's the easiest thing in the world. The part of you that cares just goes away, all you have to do is flip the switch and snap!" With that, he snapped Jeremy's neck like he was breaking a toothpick.

"Damon! NO!" Elena screamed and ran to Jeremy on the floor and slumped to the ground next to him, sobbing. Damon looked at her then staggered backwards and was out into the night within a second.

Elena cradled Jeremy's head in her lap, slowly rocking back and forth. In the midst of her tears, she looked down and saw that Jeremy had her Uncle John's old magic ring on. She began crying even harder, in relief. The ring protected whoever was wearing it from any type of supernatural death. She sat there cradling Jeremy's head to her chest, waiting for him to wake up.

88888888

Celeste didn't know how long she had fallen asleep with her head on her kitchen table. But, she woke with a start and shook her head. Her dreams had consisted of James' looming face and needles and things she had buried back in her mind long ago. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she stood up and stretched before walking up the stairs. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Frowning slightly, she walked back down the stairs and opened the door. Her eyebrows rose in surprise when she saw Damon standing there.

"What do you want?" Celeste asked crossing her arms over chest protectively. Celeste stared at him more closely and saw how bad he looked. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were full of….sadness? That couldn't be right, she thought. Damon Salvatore didn't feel sadness or regret, or anything for that matter.

"What do you want?" She asked again, waiting for him to reply.

"I'm upset." He simply stated. Celeste resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Why are you upset?" She asked, trying to sound like she cared even though she still didn't trust him.

"I ruined everything I had. I think I just lost the one person who actually cared about me," Damon said softly, surprising her with his brutal honesty. Celeste thought for a moment before replying to him.

"Well, Damon, if that person truly cares about you, you can't do anything that they would make them stop caring about you. Everything is worse at night. Go home and get some sleep," She gently spoke. Damon stared at her for a moment, with an emotion in his eyes she was unable to read, before he walked away and disappeared into the night.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Carnival

Chapter 3 – The Carnival 

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries.**

Celeste jerked awake from a restless sleep. Her dreams were gradually becoming worse and memories that she had tried so hard to forget were resurfacing, haunting her. As she got herself ready for the day, her thoughts drifted towards Damon and what he had said to her. She was puzzled, to say the least. Damon hardly seemed like the type of person to go to someone for comfort, let alone go to anyone for anything. He had his emotions on lockdown and didn't let anyone in. Shrugging her shoulders, she decided that she wouldn't mention what happened last night unless he brought it up. It's not like Celeste truly cared what he felt but she didn't feel like causing any drama. No need to get rid of her brand new friends right away—that would set a world record of losing friends, even for her. Coming down the stairs, she grabbed her things and hurried out the door.

As she got into her car, she turned the key in the ignition and….nothing happened. She growled in frustration and tried again.

"Damnit!" She muttered to herself before climbing back out of the car. She grabbed as many of her things as she could and started walking in the direction of the school. This day was _not _going as she hoped it would. Her many art supplies were blocking her field of vision so she couldn't see that there was a person in front of her before it was too late.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! These stupid art supplies are right in front of my face and I should be watching where I am go…" Celeste's voice drifted off as she looked up and saw that it was Elena. Smiling in relief, Celeste said, "Oh, hey Elena. Glad it's only you, I definitely would have been embarrassing myself if you were a stranger. Shouldn't you be in school already though?" She asked, glancing at her watch.

"Well Celeste, I am, in fact, _not_ Elena. I could never wear my hair like that," Katherine pulled a face before continuing on, "I did however, want to meet you. You are a puzzle, that's for sure. And you look relatively normal to me." Katherine looked her up and down, smirking slightly. Starting to panic, Celeste tried to think what to say. There was no way this woman, could know who and what Celeste was. Deciding to change the subject off of herself, Celeste asked, "If you aren't Elena, then who are you, exactly?"

"I'm Katherine, it's so very nice to meet you. I'm sure we will be seeing a lot of each other very soon," Katherine gave Celeste a cold smile before shoving past her and walking away. Celeste shuddered slightly before she picked up her supplies and continued walking. She wondered how Katherine could possibly look identical to Elena. There was something else going on here and she needed to find out what. If people in town began finding out who and what she was, things could turn ugly fast. Unfortunately, she wasn't looking where she was going and tripped and she and her supplies went flying into the sidewalk.

"You _have_ got to be kidding me," Celeste grumbled.

"Looks like you need a hand," Celeste turned and her face fell as she saw who the owner of the voice was. Damon was wearing a stupid lopsided grin, while sitting in his blue Camaro. He was clearly enjoying the fact that Celeste was not having a good day.

"Damon. How lovely to see you," she sarcastically said. She quickly scooped up her things and kept walking. But, because Damon was in his car, he just kept driving slowly to stay opposite of her on the sidewalk.

"What do you want, Damon? Some of us have places to be." Celeste said irritably.

"Just get in the car, Celeste. I can drive you to the school. No need to struggle with all your stuff when I'm right here. It'll be like I'm your knight in shining armor, " he grinned mischievously at her. Celeste thought for a moment before deciding to get in the car. She did need to get to the school, what would it hurt to be in a car with Damon? She dumped her stuff in the back of his car and climbed in the front seat.

"What happened to your car?" Damon asked curiously.

"I don't know, I went to start it and it just wouldn't. I don't know why." Celeste explained.

"Mhm. Well I could take a look at it if you want," Damon offered nicely. Then he continued, "So….about last night," But Celeste quickly cut him off.

"Don't worry, Damon. Your secret is safe with me. Wouldn't want anyone to know that you actually have feelings, now would we?" She said sarcastically before changing the subject, "Hey, did you know that there is a woman in town who looks _exactly_ like Elena? I'm not just talking a simple resemblance; I'm saying she looks _identical_ to Elena. It's eerie." Damon's face hardened.

"When did you see this woman?" He asked in a cold tone.

"Today. Right before you picked me up, she introduced herself and said that she would be seeing more of me. Weird right?" Celeste decided to leave off the part about Katherine telling her that she was a puzzle. She just wanted to see how Damon would react. She saw that he had immediately put a stone cold mask on and she could tell he knew who this woman was and that there was a back story to them, but now Celeste needed to find out why.

"Yeah, that is really weird," Damon said thoughtfully but didn't elaborate. Unfortunately, they had arrived at the school and Celeste would have to hold off on getting information out of him until a later point.

"Well, thanks for the ride, Damon. Let's hope I don't see you around," she smirked at him before getting out of the car and taking her stuff with her.

88888888

Damon watched as Celeste walked away. This was _not_ good that Katherine had talked to her. That meant that Katherine had a plan, and Celeste was part of that plan. They needed to find out what was up with Celeste and fast. And oddly enough, Damon didn't want anything to happen to her. He snorted slightly as that thought crossed his mind and shook his head. Celeste was simply a loose end that he needed to tie up. Not wanting anything to happen to her would require him to actually care, which he didn't. Quickly burying those thoughts away, he sped away, intent on figuring out a plan to figure out Katherine's next move and what she wanted with Celeste.

88888888

Celeste braced her hands on her desk and stretched her back. Apparently, this day was determined to be horrible in all the ways it possibly could. Her students were being annoying, no one was listening and she was tired. Tired of running, tired of being a good person all the time, she was just plain bone weary. Cracking her back and neck, she tried to relieve the stress that was turning her back into knots.

Glancing up, Celeste saw Elena walk into the room with another girl who had chocolate brown skin, brown hair and dark eyes.

"What can I do for you two lovely ladies?" Celeste asked kindly.

"Celeste, this is one of my best friends, Bonnie." Elena introduced them to each other, then continued, "I was actually just wondering if you were coming to tonight's carnival at the school?"

"I didn't even know there was a school carnival," Celeste laughed. "But, what time does it start? I'll try to stop by."

"It starts at seven. We will see you there," Bonnie smiled before she and Elena left the class room. Celeste wasn't much into carnivals or things like that, but she thought it would be the perfect distraction for her because of everything going on.

88888888

Elena walked out of the classroom pleased that she and Bonnie were able to get Celeste to come to the carnival tonight. She thought that everyone needed a distraction from everything that had happened recently, herself especially.

"Well, tonight is going to be a first. We are actually in charge of the carnival. I can't believe Caroline won't be there, we better make sure we get everything perfect," Bonnie laughed. Elena chuckled, nodding in agreement. As they approached Elena's locker, Stefan was waiting for them.

"I'll see you later," Bonnie said as she made quick exit. She was still having a hard time with the Salvatore brothers after everything that happened with the tomb. So, of course, the rational thing to do was to avoid them at all costs.

When Elena arrived at her locker, Stefan's eyebrows were furrowed, deep in thought.

"Hey, why so serious?" Elena asked with concern in her voice. Stefan then proceeded to tell Elena what happened with Katherine and Celeste this morning. Damon had called and filled Stefan in on everything.

"Well, Celeste is coming tonight. So we could keep an eye on her there and see if Katherine makes contact with her or something. I think we also need to sit her down and have her tell us everything, we can't help her unless we know who she is." Elena worriedly ran a hand through her hair.

"It's going to be alright, Elena. Everything will work out," Stefan consoled her while putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, I know it is. But at what cost? Who is going to be hurt this time? Or even worse, who is going to die? Some days I wish I could just live a normal day, vampire free." Elena took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry that it's like this, Elena. If I could change it, I would. But tonight we are going to have a fun time, no vampires, no jackass uncles, no stupid brother of mine, just a fun night. Besides, Caroline would want it to be that way," Stefan said smiling.

"Well we do have to make Caroline proud don't we?" Elena laughed. "Speaking of, Bonnie and I have to go start getting everything ready, so I'll see you later." Elena gave a Stefan a quick kiss before walking away to find Bonnie.

88888888

Damon was walking alone in the school hallway. This carnival was quickly turning out to be a pain in his butt and it had only started a little while ago. He had just watched Tyler Lockwood win match after match at the arm wrestling booth. Something was up with that Lockwood and he was determined to find out what. He finally had compelled a random kid to pick a fight with Tyler to see what would happen and how far Tyler would be willing to go. As he was walking, he saw Caroline Forbes waiting for him at the end of the hallway.

"Hey Blondie, who let you out?" He asked nonchalantly.

"I remember," She said quietly.

"What do you remember?" Damon asked in puzzlement.

"I remember how you manipulated me, you pushed me around, abused me, erased my memories, fed on me." She said with a cold glare.

"You're crazy." Damon said mockingly.

"My memories have been coming back, in pieces."

"You can't remember. It's impossible, I mean, unless you're becoming a—" Damon's voice trailed off as realization dawned on him.

Caroline smiled before saying, "I have a message from Katherine. She said, 'game on.'"

"Wait..." Damon made a move to grab Caroline before she shoved him hard and he fell to the ground.

"You suck." Caroline spit out before turning on her heel and walking away.

"Oh this is not good…" Damon muttered to himself before getting up.

88888888

Celeste was wandering around the carnival for a while before she was finally able to find Elena. "Hey, Elena." Celeste called to Elena before walking over to her.

"Celeste! Hey, I'm so glad you were able to make it. Bonnie and I have been taking care of everything, sorry I didn't find you sooner. How are you?" Elena smiled as she organized different t-shirts at one of the game booths.

"I'm fine, it's a really cool carnival. Better than any I ever had in high school," Celeste laughed.

"So Stefan told me what happened to—" Elena was cut off by Damon who appeared at her side.

"Elena, we need to talk." Damon said in a low tone.

"What do you want, Damon?" Elena asked irritably.

"I know I'm the last person you want to see right now but I need you to come with me." He said in an almost pleading voice.

"Whatever it is I'm not interested." Elena snapped before turning around and continuing to organize.

"Whoa there, Damon. Where's the fire?" Celeste asked him with a puzzled look.

"This doesn't concern you, Celeste." He growled before turning to Elena and said desperately, "I need you to come with me right now, Elena." She sighed but begrudgingly followed him, leaving Celeste standing alone.

"Well that was weird…" Celeste muttered to herself before walking away in search of junk food.

88888888

Celeste had wandered around for quite a while. She had won two stuffed animals and had eaten way too much cotton candy. She had given up trying to find Elena or anyone else, they had all but disappeared. As she was walking back to her car, she paused as she heard voices coming from the back of the school.

She made her way over and stopped in disbelief at what she saw. Stefan and Elena were standing in between a girl who had platinum blond hair. Damon was standing with his arm posed in the air holding a wooden stake of some sort that was pointed at Elena's heart. As she looked closer she saw that the blond girl had blood smeared all over her face. She had a wild look in her eyes, like she was a caged animal.

"What in the world is going on over here?" Celeste called out as she walked over to them. Stefan, Elena, and Damon all snapped around and stared at her.

"Get Caroline out of here," Damon told his brother while he quickly dropped the stake. Stefan nodded and led Caroline away to the school.

"We can explain, Celeste. We just need some time to explain everything, okay?" Elena calmly told Celeste. Celeste was still standing frozen in shock at the scene she had walked in on.

Celeste was about to walk towards them when she felt an arm come around her neck and hold her there. Thinking quickly, she immediately gripped the arm around her neck and jerked forward while leaning down, flipping the person over her back onto the ground. Quickly she got up ready for an attack, but she only caught a quick glimpse of the person before Celeste heard a sickening snap and then blackness claimed her. She slumped to the ground, dead.

Katherine turned around facing Damon and Elena, brushing her hands off. "Well, I did not know that she had that much strength. That was impressive." Damon stared in disbelief at Katherine. Everything had happened so fast he barely had even time to register what was happening before Celeste was on the ground dead.

"Damon, so good to see you again. Elena." Katherine nodded to each of them before continuing, "I just wanted to make sure that Caroline delivered the message clearly. If not…game on." Katherine gave an evil grin before she disappeared into the night. Elena and Damon were left standing there, completely stunned.

"Oh my god. She just killed her," Elena stared in disbelief at Celeste's body.

"Go tell Stefan what happened, Elena. I'll take care of the bodies," Damon said gently to her. Elena nodded and quickly left—grateful that she didn't have to look at the two bodies anymore.

Damon walked over to Celeste's body and knelt down next to her. He reached out and touched her face absentmindedly. Whether Damon admitted it to himself or not, Celeste had somewhat grown on him. He was disappointed that Katherine had involved herself and killed her. It was just one more thing to add to Damon's list of why he hated Katherine.

"It wasn't supposed to end this way." He said softly. He then picked up her body walked over to his car and placed her inside his trunk. After that he also grabbed Carter's body, the man that Caroline had killed, and put him inside the trunk as well. Closing the lid, he walked around to the driver's side and got in and drove away.

88888888

When Damon arrived at the place where he was going to bury the bodies, he grabbed the shovel from his car and began to dig two graves. An hour later he opened up his trunk and grabbed Carter first and buried him. When he returned to get Celeste, he looked down at her. His eyes widening in disbelief, he watched as her fingers began to twitch back to life.

88888888

Katherine watched from a distance as Damon only buried the one body. He had then paused at the trunk of his car staring at Celeste before he carried her to the front of his car and sped off. Just as she suspected, James hadn't told her the whole truth about Celeste. She couldn't die. This was an interesting development in her little plan. Dialing James' number, she waited until he picked up the phone.

"Hello, Katherine." James answered the phone in a cold tone.

"Oh James, there has been a little glitch in our plans. I decided to kill Celeste and see if you were actually telling me the truth. Well, surprisingly, she didn't stay dead. Care to explain to me how that is possible?" Katherine spoke dangerously quiet into the phone.

James remained quiet, he had definitely underestimated Katherine. As he thought of what to say, he had the distinct feeling that he had bitten off more than he could chew.

"No response? Ah well, I will just have to come find you and get the information out of you myself. I have my ways of getting you to talk, James. I look forward to seeing you soon." And with that Katherine hung up the phone.

_A/N: Okay, so that was chapter 3. Hope everyone enjoyed it! Please please review! It really inspires me to keep writing. _ _Just a little note, the chapters will start to pick up more after this because Celeste is going to find out about the vampires and everything. And we will find out just exactly what she is soon too. I also took a little liberty with this chapter in that I didn't include the scene where Bonnie tries to kill Damon. I didn't think it needed it to be honest so please don't be mad/disappointed with that. Once again please review! And I hope that you all have a great day wherever you are. _


	4. Chapter 4 - The Demons Inside Me

Chapter 4 – The Demons Inside Me

_A/N: So sorry I'm a day late getting this chapter up. Anywa_y, _this is a pretty long chapter—hope everyone enjoys it! On another note, I didn't get any reviews on my last chapter which was disappointing. So if you read this please please do this girl a favor and tell me what you thought about it! _

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries.**

Celeste moaned as she slowly opened her eyes. Her head was pounding and her vision was slightly blurry. Blinking, she slowly sat up and looked around. She was lying on a leather couch in a really nice parlor of some sort. There was a large fireplace to her left with a fire softly crackling in it. Looking around she also saw that there were bookshelves lining the walls. As she slowly got to her feet, she quickly sat down again because her head was spinning. She sat there for a while on the couch, holding her head in her hands.

"Well, look who decided to come back from the dead?" Damon's annoying voice called to Celeste as he sauntered into the room.

Looking up in surprise, Celeste said, "I'm assuming this is your house then? And what are you talking about coming back from the dead?"

"Don't you remember?" Damon asked curiously as he watched her carefully on the couch.

"Obviously not since I asked you what you meant by that. Do you have anything that can help with my head?" Damon nodded and poured a glass of water for her and handed the glass and two aspirin to her. She nodded her thanks and quickly swallowed the pills.

Hearing a knock at the door, Damon excused himself and walked to the front the door. He wasn't surprised to see Stefan and Elena there, he had called them when he saw that Celeste was awake.

"How's Celeste?" Elena immediately asked.

"We may have a slight problem," Damon whispered.

"Problem? What sort of problem?" Stefan spoke up.

"It seems that Celeste doesn't remember what happened. And it has come to my attention that Celeste doesn't know about vampires or anything supernatural for that matter—but she herself is obviously some sort of supernatural being. So who knows if she knows what she exactly is? But one of us needs to tell her about vampires and all that." Damon stated looking at Elena and Stefan, searching for an answer.

"Why don't we all explain it to her? As soon as she tells us what she herself is, let's just pray that she actually knows what she is." Elena suggested. Stefan and Damon agreed, both thinking that this would be the best way to handle it.

They all walked back into the parlor to find that Celeste was standing up and was looking at all the books on the bookshelf.

"Celeste, we all need to have a little chat. Come sit down," Damon told her. Celeste looked at him with question in her eyes before greeting Stefan and Elena and sitting down.

"Celeste, about last night," Stefan began before continuing, "Katherine broke your neck. You were dead. Damon was about to bury your body when you started coming back to life." Stefan paused letting this new information sink into Celeste's mind. She stared at all of them, her face devoid of emotion.

"That can't be right. There's no way that I could have come back from the dead, I mean that's crazy!" Celeste said then muttered to herself, "Well maybe it isn't all that crazy, considering." She however, didn't realize that both Stefan and Damon could hear her perfectly because of their heightened hearing.

"Considering what?" Damon asked curiously.

"Nothing. Considering nothing," She stumbled over her words surprised that he could hear her.

"Celeste, listen to me. There are things that you don't know about Stefan and Damon," Elena began saying. "Now, in order for you to understand everything that we are about to tell you and be able to help you, you first need to tell us what exactly you are."

Celeste hesitated. How would she know that they wouldn't just run her out of town? Or even worse, kill her for what she was?

"You can trust us, Celeste." Stefan told her kindly. Celeste took a deep breath and sat up straighter and began to tell her story.

"Okay. Well, I am half angel. That means that I have angel blood in me, my mom was a human but my dad was an angel. There are not very many of us left in the world because people often hunt us down and kill us, they want our blood to experiment with and it's been rumored that our blood can heal people. I personally haven't experienced my blood healing anyone or myself—that is until today. My dad left my mom and me when I was a baby and my mom was killed when I was 17.

I moved around, working odd jobs, not staying too long in one town. Enter into the picture, James Armenta. He told me he could help me—that he knew what I was and that he had experience with my kind. Foolishly, I believed him. We travelled together for a year. When I turned 18, he revealed his true intentions with me. Instead of being a demon hunter, he was an angel hunter. Our relationship quickly turned abusive and he soon forcibly brought me to a hospital of some sort. My next memories are pretty blurry, I was usually only semi-conscious. I only remember different faces fading in and out, pain, and many needles in various parts of my body.

Ironically, James who brought me to the hospital was the one who helped me escape. He decided one day he wanted me to leave so he sobered me up enough that I could get out of there and he helped me escape. I didn't find out till later that I had been there for 4 years. Fast forward to now, I'm a teacher and I'm running away from my past." Celeste finished, looking up at the shocked faces of Stefan, Elena, and Damon.

"I'm so sorry that that happened to you, Celeste." Elena finally said in a gentle voice—ever the compassionate one.

"Have you heard from James since you got out?" Damon asked with an emotion in his voice that Celeste couldn't quite read.

"Yes, I have actually. In fact, he called a few days ago—he told me he knew where I was and was coming to take me back. I still haven't quite figured out what to do about that particular development." Celeste laughed nervously.

"Simple. He won't take you back." Damon stated. Celeste glanced at him with mild surprise in her eyes.

"Well Celeste, now it's our turn to tell our story," Stefan stared at her expectantly.

"Out with it. It can't be that crazier than what I just shared," She laughed.

"I wouldn't be too sure," Damon mumbled.

"Damon and Stefan are vampires, Celeste." Elena told her. Celeste began to laugh but quickly covered her mouth when she saw their faces.

"You can't be serious!" She exclaimed.

"We are, Celeste." Stefan told her before proceeding to tell her about vampires and what they can do, why Elena looks like Katherine and everything else—with of course Damon and Elena chiming in every now and then. Celeste stared at them after they were done.

"Which brings us up to present day and our current predicament. Why didn't you stay dead when Katherine killed you? I mean I'm sure it has something to do with your celestial parentage but how?" Damon asked, raising an eyebrow at Celeste.

"I wish I knew. I don't know what to tell you guys, sorry." Celeste said apologetically.

"Well we need to find out about the Lockwood family so why don't I call Rick and see if we can figure out what they are and see if there is anything in the history books about half angels?" Damon suggested as he pulled out his phone to call Rick. Stefan handed a glass to Celeste with what she presumed was blood in it.

"This vampire stuff is all new to me but aren't you and Damon the ones that crave blood?" She asked.

Stefan chuckled before answering her, "Yes, but the blood of a vampire can heal a human. So considering you are still half human this should help with your headache and soreness from when Katherine killed you." Celeste nodded her thanks before downing the glass in one gulp.

At that moment, Alaric decided to make his appearance in the Salvatore house. He looked surprised to see Celeste there so Damon briefly filled him in on everything that Celeste had told them.

"Okay, with all this angel stuff settled, do you want anything to drink, Rick? Coffee, bourbon? Bourbon in your coffee?" Damon asked sarcastically.

Shaking his head, Alaric replied, "You mentioned over the phone that you needed my help?"

"Yes, we were hoping you could shed some light on the Lockwood family and on Celeste's half- angel phenomenon of a species," Damon said.

Glancing at Celeste, who was standing by the fireplace, Stefan noticed that she was swaying from side to side. "Celeste are you okay?" He asked in a concerned voice.

Gulping, she nodded as she made her way back to the couch. Her head was pounding again and she was beginning to feel nauseous. Suddenly feeling the urge to throw up she said to Stefan, "Where's the bathroom? I need it right _now._"

"What's wrong?" Damon asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Damon, I'm going to vomit. So unless you want me to throw up all over your nice leather couch I suggest you tell me where the bathroom is, now!" Celeste snapped at him. He suddenly appeared in front of her from across the room and took her arm. She had barely blinked when she was suddenly in the bathroom—Damon had used his handy vampire speed to get her to the bathroom in time before she puked. Leaning into the toilet, Celeste groaned as she threw up all the blood that Stefan had given her.

Knocking on the door, Elena slowly walked into the bathroom. "Are you okay, Celeste?" She asked gently.

"Well we can add to the very blank list of things of what we know about half angels that we can't drink vampire blood. My body obviously rejected it," Celeste said as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Elena nodded and took her arm and led her back to the couch in the parlor.

"How is our dear angelic teacher?" Damon asked as he saw Elena leading Celeste into the room.

"Apparently half-angel teachers can't drink vampire blood without throwing up," Celeste said in a sarcastic tone.

"Interesting. Well while you were busy acquainting yourself with our bathroom, the three of us were discussing the Lockwoods and Rick helpfully told us about his dead vampire wife's research about the Lycanthrope, aka—werewolves." Damon grinned.

"Werewolves, really?" Celeste scoffed then added, "Although who am I kidding? There are vampires and I'm a half-angel so why _wouldn't_ there be werewolves?"

"Well, all of Isobel's things from her research are still at Duke's. I mean her office is still there, she's technically still missing." Alaric provided helpfully.

"So can we get access to it? Rick, we need to know what we are dealing with. If this wolf men thing is true, I've seen enough movies to know it's not good. It means Mason Lockwood is a real life Lon Chaney and that little Tyler punk may just very well be Lon Chaney junior which means Bella Lugosi, meaning me, is totally screwed. Not to mention, that maybe Isobel's research has some things on half-angels and how they affect vampires and why Celeste rejected Stefan's blood."

88888888

Celeste was back at her house packing a backpack. She had opted to go with Damon, Elena, and Alaric to Duke because if they were going to try to find out information about her species she wanted to know. She was feeling much better than when she was at the Salvatore's house and was looking forward to hopefully finding out some more information about herself. Grabbing her stuff, she walked across the street to Elena's house. Damon was incessantly honking the horn trying to get Elena and Alaric to hurry up.

"Damon! Calm yourself! Good golly, have a little patience," Celeste rolled her eyes as she put her backpack in the back of the car and climbed in the back seat.

"Hey zip it, angel. We got to get this show on the road," Damon smirked at her through the rear view mirror.

"Don't call me angel, dickhead." Celeste resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him. Grabbing her book, she started reading it as she watched from the corner of her eye Damon get out and talk to Elena and Stefan.

She couldn't help but notice tension between the three of them. Finally, Damon, Alaric and Elena all got in the car and Rick started the car getting ready to leave. Stefan waved at them as they drove away.

88888888

Celeste rubbed her forehead as she listened to Damon and Elena bicker with each other. She had had just about enough with them. Desperate to change the subject, Celeste turned to Elena and asked, "How's your blond friend? The one that was at the carnival, right before Katherine killed me."

"Oh you mean Caroline? She's okay, Stefan is spending the day with her helping her transition. Bonnie was going to make her a daylight ring," Elena explained.

When they were all telling Celeste about vampires and everything they had explained how Bonnie was a witch and Caroline had just become a vampire when Celeste had found them at the carnival. They sat in silence for a while but before they knew it, they were pulling into the parking lot at Duke.

When they walked into the office, Alaric went up to the receptionist and introduced himself, "Excuse me, hi. I'm Alaric Saltzman, I called earlier."

The woman behind the desk smiled warmly at him before replying, "Yes, of course. I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant comparative folklore." Celeste could have sworn that Vanessa gave Elena a weird look before she hesitated then said, "Uh, just let me grab Isobel's keys."

"Oh sorry, these are my friends Damon, Elena, and Celeste. I hope this isn't too much of an imposition." Alaric introduced them.

"Oh please, Isobel's office is right through there. Isobel was one of my first professors. I'm a grad student, she was brilliant and one of the reasons I went into folklore. Uh I do have to ask though, has there been any news?" Vanessa cautiously asked Alaric.

"No I'm afraid not," Rick said somewhat sadly.

Vanessa nodded in understanding. "It's right this way if you want to follow me," She said as she opened the door to Isobel's office. "I'll grab the light, feel free to look around."

The four of them proceeded to look at all the interesting things in Isobel's office. Celeste was engrossed in all the books, looking for anything that could give any more information on her species. As Elena was looking at a particular interesting artifact she turned around and saw Vanessa standing in front of her pointing a crossbow at her.

Elena didn't have time to even make a noise before she heard the click of Vanessa firing the crossbow. Suddenly, Damon appeared in front of her just as the arrow buried itself into his back. Celeste stared at all of this in shock. Alaric quickly grabbed Vanessa and pushed her against the wall, holding her in place, before all but dragging her into the other room.

Celeste made her way over to Damon who was leaning over the desk groaning in pain.

"We need to get this arrow out, Damon." Celeste said gently.

"Just pull it out, Celeste. I can't reach it and it hurts like hell. Just get the damn thing out," Damon growled through his teeth. Celeste gripped it with both of her hands and yanked it out of his back.

"That bitch is dead." Damon angrily said as he made a move to go into the other room. Elena stood in front of him with a hand on his chest, trying to restrain him.

"You are _not_ going to kill her, Damon." Elena said firmly to him. Damon looked at her incredulously.

"Watch me," He smirked before trying to get around her.

"You touch her and I swear I will never speak to you again." Elena said seriously.

Damon laughed mockingly at her. "What makes you think that has any power over me? Because I took an arrow in the back for you? You're severely overestimating yourself." Celeste decided that it was time for her to step in and stop this before it got out of hand.

"Okay. This whole thing between you two needs to stop. Elena, go check on Alaric and Vanessa," Elena nodded at Celeste before glancing at Damon and walking away. Celeste turned to Damon, "And _you. _You killed Elena's brother, Damon. Her _brother_. You have got to give her some time to deal with it. Unlike you, not everyone is a cool super power vampire where you can just turn your emotions off. Elena is still 100% human and she just can't forget what you did. As for Vanessa, we unfortunately still need her. So please get a grip on yourself and refrain from killing her." She gave him a pointed look before walking away into the other room. Alaric and Elena had explained to Vanessa how Damon was still alive and how Elena was a descendant of Katherine which was why Elena looked like her. Vanessa had left to go grab information on Mystic Falls and the history of Katherine.

When Vanessa returned to the room, she brought a box full of research about Katherine and handed it to Elena who immediately started going through it. Celeste hadn't found anything on half-angels in Isobel's office so she decided to ask Vanessa if she knew if there was any research on it.

"Hey Vanessa? I was wondering if you would happen to know if Isobel had any research on half-angels." Celeste asked Vanessa. Vanessa's eyes widened slightly at Celeste.

"Are you…are you a half-angel?" She asked in surprise. Celeste smiled and nodded at her.

"Oh wow. I have only heard about people like you, never actually seen or talked to any of your kind. Anyway, Isobel did some research, but unfortunately it was very little. I will go grab what little she had." Vanessa disappeared for a minute.

"Any luck over there?" Celeste asked Damon and Elena.

"No, there isn't anything in this research that we don't already know about Katherine," Elena said in disappointment.

"Ah, man, you know, it's a bummer we're not friends anymore because I could tell you what I know." Damon sneered at Elena from the other side of the room where he was flipping through different books.

"Sorry I asked," Celeste mumbled as Elena glared at Damon. Thankfully, Vanessa decided to reappear while holding a much smaller box. Celeste glanced at the box with some disappointment in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, this all that I could find," Vanessa said apologetically.

"It's fine, even this is more than I know about myself." Celeste laughed slightly. Celeste engrossed herself in the contents of the box as Vanessa began talking to the others. She began to just tune them out because she was totally occupied with shuffling through all the things in the box. Celeste vaguely heard them talking about something called the sun and the moon curse but she honestly didn't care at the moment.

In the box was some random pictures, a leather journal, some articles, and a vial that had a clear liquid in it. She curiously fingered all the different pictures in the box when she suddenly froze—holding a picture in her hand. In the picture was a man and a woman and the woman was definitely Celeste's mother. The man had piercing blue eyes, sandy blond hair and a kind smile. Celeste flipped the photograph over and saw written on the back: Michael and Nicole. Celeste's father's name was Michael—she knew now that this was a picture of her parents. Quietly pocketing the photo, she picked up the leather journal and began to read it. She quickly realized that this was Isobel's journal. Apparently she documented the information that she had found out about half-angels in this journal. As Celeste continued to read, she began to feel sick to her stomach. An entry from the journal read:

_James finally found Nicole's daughter and brought her to the lab. I am glad that we disposed of Nicole instead of taking her there. Celeste is a much better specimen to use than her mother. Celeste has proven to be of more value than I had originally anticipated. We have been able to acquire many vampires to test on her. It seems that Celeste is unable to be killed by vampires or anything supernatural for that matter. The angel's blood in her body works much like how the supernatural ring that I gave to Rick worked. She can't be killed by anything of normal supernatural powers—such as a regular vampire or werewolf. In addition, from different books they seem to say that there is one supernatural being that is able to kill her but we have been unsuccessful in determining what specific being that could be. She also has an herb that she is unable to touch, drink, etc. Much how vervain is to vampires—the plant, angel's tears is her weakness. However, when a vampire drinks her blood they either become stronger, faster, and harder to kill or it kills them. We are still unable to determine why it affects some vampires differently than others._

Celeste stared in shock at the page. Isobel had killed her mother, she was working with James, and who knows what she did with her father. Frustrated, she ran a hand through her hair. This was too much to process at one time. She didn't even know what to do with this information. Slamming the book shut, she stood there just staring at the wall for a minute. Picking up the small vial in the box, she opened the lid and sniffed it. It smelled relatively normal to her. Tipping it slightly she poured a drop on her skin and hissed as it burnt her. Apparently that was a vial of angel's tears. Celeste was unaware that both Elena and Damon had called her name until Elena came over and touched Celeste's elbow causing her to jump.

"Is everything okay, Celeste? You look pale." Elena asked, her voice full of concern.

"Yeah…yeah I'm fine. Everything's fine." Celeste said, trying to convince herself more than anyone else that everything was fine. Damon glanced at Celeste from across the room with a hint of concern in his eyes. Celeste shook her head ever so slightly—conveying the message that she didn't want to talk.

Turning to Vanessa, Celeste asked her, "Is it okay if I take this box home with me? There's just a lot of information that I can't get through tonight. I promise I will return it to you." She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Yeah, I suppose that's okay, just as long as you bring it back," Vanessa agreed.

"Thank you," Celeste replied.

As they all walked back out to the car, Elena and Damon filled Celeste in on everything they had found out about the sun and the moon curse and werewolves. Alaric lagged behind, chatting with Vanessa. When they approached the car, Damon pulled Elena aside and began quietly talking to her in a low tone. Celeste climbed in the car, still clutching the box to herself. After a minute they both got in the car—everyone sitting in silence waiting for Alaric to arrive at the car.

"What did you find out about your history from Isobel's research, Celeste?" Damon asked innocently but secretly hoping he could find out what had upset Celeste so much.

"A lot. But I will tell you guys tomorrow, I just need some time to process things," Celeste stated quietly. Damon nodded in understanding before falling silent again.

88888888

When they finally pulled up in front of Elena's house, Celeste was totally and completely exhausted in every way possible. She said her goodbyes before she all but ran into her house. She dumped her backpack and box of research on her kitchen table before she wearily climbed the stairs and fell on her bed in exhaustion and immediately fell asleep.

88888888

James stood outside of Caroline Forbes' house. He stood up straighter as Katherine sauntered outside. She barely even batted an eyelash at seeing James standing before her.

"James. So glad you decided to pay me a visit," She smiled wryly at him.

"I wish I could say the same thing, Katherine. Where is Celeste?" He asked glaring at her.

"Oh James. Have some patience. I have so much planned for the both of us," Katherine grinned darkly at him.

_A/N: Hope you all liked it! Please read and review! Have a great day wherever you are. _


	5. Chapter 5 - Nightmares

Chapter 5 - Nightmares

_A/N: So, this chapter isn't as long as the other ones have been but I hope you all enjoy it never the less. Also, a huge shout-out of thanks to my two reviewers: Kayla and Daninuyasha! You both are awesome, thank you! Once again, please please review if you read it! Hope you have a great day wherever you are._

Celeste was back in the lab that had been the source of all of her terrors. James was there, smiling coldly down at her as she was strapped down on a table. She frowned in puzzlement as she saw another familiar face looming over hers—it was Katherine. Katherine laughed mockingly at her as Celeste struggled to escape from the bonds that held her down. James picked up a scalpel from a tray nearby and grinned as he slowly drew it down her arm leaving a long superficial cut and a trail of blood. Grabbing a nearby tray, he held it under her arm as blood slowly dripped into the bowl. Suddenly, she heard something buzzing. She twitched slightly as it began to get louder in her ear.

Celeste jerked awake and sat up in bed. Her clothes were damp with sweat and she shuddered as she grabbed her phone that woke her from her nightmare.

"What?" She snapped into the phone.

"Well good morning to you too, sunshine," Damon said in a disgustingly perky voice.

Celeste audibly groaned and fell back on to her pillows. "How did you get my number, Damon?"

"I have my ways. How did you sleep? I'm sure you dreamt of my beautiful face." Celeste could hear the smirk in his voice as he taunted her.

"What do you want, Damon?" Celeste asked in a tired voice.

"Just checking to make sure the town's favorite angel is still alive. Nobody has heard from you since we got back from Duke."

"Yeah I'm fine. I have just been…busy," Celeste lied lamely.

"Mhm…well, you should stop by the historical society volunteer picnic today—I'm going to be getting rid of Mason Lockwood, aka Mystic Falls' very own town werewolf." He drawled.

"Tempting, Damon but no—I'll pass." With that, Celeste hung up the phone before he could make any witty remark.

Damon was right though, Celeste had holed herself up in her house since they had arrived home from Duke. She hadn't slept well in days and it was starting to catch up with her. She had been slowly sifting through all of Isobel's research and processing everything. She continued to find out more about herself and wasn't sure what to do with it all. Isobel's research had revealed that Celeste's body was pretty much a mystery. When a half-angel was injured by a non-supernatural entity it healed much slower than when injured by a supernatural cause. That was just a piece of information she had found out. Isobel's research never resolved why some vampires die when they drink her blood and some didn't.

Shaking her head, she began to think about the dream she had before Damon called. She wondered if it was a flashback and Katherine was actually there when Celeste was in the hospital. If so, why? There was no way Katherine could know James, could she? Shuddering slightly, Celeste stepped into the shower hoping to wash away the memories and flashbacks.

88888888

Katherine sighed in frustration. James was not being cooperative whatsoever, and she really didn't feel like having to get rid of a body today.

"James dear, I _really_ don't want to kill you, but I will if I have to. Now tell me what I want to know," She paused waiting for him to reply.

She had him tied to a chair and had been torturing him for a couple days now. But, he was refusing to tell her anything more about Celeste. Pacing up and down the room, she thought of what methods she could use to get him to talk. Pausing in mid-step, she suddenly grinned and turned back around. Appearing before him, she let her fangs slide out and sank them into her wrist causing blood to flow freely. Roughly grabbing him by the back of his head with one hand, she put her bloody wrist over his mouth forcing him to drink her blood as he struggled uselessly in the chair.

"Tell me what I want to know, James or I will turn you into a vampire so I can torture you without worrying about you dying." She glared at him as he choked down her blood.

"Fine!" He said in defeat, "Fine I'll tell you what you want to know."

"Now that is what I want to hear," Katherine smiled and patted his cheek with her hand. "Can Celeste be killed?"

"Yes, she can, but only by one specific supernatural being. We were never able to figure out who or what that being is though." James hung his head in exhaustion.

"Can she be turned into a vampire?"

"No. At least we don't think so. She is a half-angel—a heavenly being, a creature of the light. Vampires are creatures of the night, demons, an abomination of nature. If she were to be turned into a vampire we believe that she would immediately die because those two sides of her could not co-exist. Those two sides of her would, for all intents and purposes, implode on each other."

"That is very interesting…thank you James. You have been very helpful. Now, there is one other thing I need you to do." Katherine leaned in close to him and began to compel him what his next assignment would be.

88888888

About to leave for the picnic, Celeste opened her front door and froze in shock. Standing before her was James Armenta.

"James. What are you doing here?" She asked him coldly.

"Hello Celeste. You look great," He looked her up and down with a greedy look in his eyes that made Celeste shudder.

"How did you find me?" Celeste crossed her arms protectively around herself.  
>"With <em>my<em> help. Celeste, so good to see you alive," Katherine appeared beside James.

"What do you want?" Celeste stepped backwards, retreating farther into her house—knowing that Katherine hadn't been invited in.

"Well, Celeste, here's the thing. I have big plans for you. So, I have compelled your friend James here to keep an eye on you. I'm not quite ready to put my plan in motion for you so James is going to be around to make sure that you don't decide to skip town or do anything stupid. See, James has been compelled to break your neck if you do anything you're not supposed to. I'll be in touch, Celeste." With that, Katherine sauntered off leaving James standing on Celeste's porch.

"I hope you know that you aren't staying here. Now get the hell off of my porch." Celeste growled before slamming the door shut in James' face and sliding down to the floor hanging her head. This could not be happening.

Celeste pulled out her phone and dialed Damon's number since his was the only number she had at this point. Unfortunately, Damon wasn't picking up his phone. She left a voicemail on his phone asking him to call her back. Cautiously standing up and peeking out the window she saw that James had left. She had no doubt however, that he was nearby, watching her house.

88888888

Damon ran a hand through his hair. Today had not been a good day. They were back at the boarding house after Liz had tried to kill him and Stefan. She was currently locked up in the cell in the basement because they were waiting for the vervain to leave her system. He frowned as he heard a knock at the door. When he answered it, he was surprised to find Celeste standing there. He frowned slightly as he looked closer at her. She had dark circles under her eyes and they carried a haunted look in them. It even looked like she had lost some weight, which was surprising because she was already pretty small.

"You haven't returned any of my calls," She stated.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Today has been a busy day, trying not to get killed and all." Damon said wryly.

"I need to talk to all of you. Can I come in?" She asked. He nodded and opened the door wider to let her in. When Celeste walked in, she was surprised to see Caroline there.

"Caroline, what are you doing here?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.

"My mom is here, she is in the cell in the basement, we are waiting for the vervain to leave her system," Caroline said matter-of-factly. Looking at Caroline, Celeste could see that there was more to the story then that but dropped the subject.

"Damon, could you go get Stefan and Elena?" Celeste asked him.

"Your wish is my command," He said sarcastically before leaving to get them. When they returned, Celeste filled them in on what had happened earlier that night with James and Katherine.

"Hmm, well that leaves us to wonder how James, Katherine, and Isobel all know each other. And what exactly Katherine's plans are for you. She hasn't been invited in right?" Stefan asked as he turned to Celeste.

"No she hasn't." Celeste shook her head.

"What about James? Where's your little body guard right now?" Damon asked suspiciously, glancing around. "He's not a vampire, so he can get in to any house."

"I don't know, I told him to get off my porch and I haven't seen him since. Although, I'm sure he isn't far." Celeste remarked.

"Well, we need to get rid of him. Let's just kill him." Damon suggested.

"Damon! You're not going to kill James," Elena spoke up now. "He's been compelled by Katherine, he can't control what he's doing."

"Fine. Then as soon as Liz is compelled back to normal, then we grab James and put him in the cell to keep him there." Damon said.

"That could work, actually." Stefan said thoughtfully.

"Well that settles it then," Damon clapped his hands together before pouring himself a glass of bourbon and plopping himself down on the couch.

"So…what exactly happened today to cause you to lock up the sheriff?" Celeste asked curiously.

"Well, if you could give me a ride home I can fill you in on what happened," Elena smiled at Celeste. Celeste agreed, and her and Elena said their goodbyes and headed home.

88888888

Katherine waited in the car for Mason to meet her. When he arrived and climbed in the car, he went to kiss her but she put a hand up, pushing him away.

"What was that stunt today that you pulled with Damon and Stefan Salvatore?" She asked in a dangerous tone—referring to the fact that Mason tipped Liz off that Damon and Stefan are vampires.

"I thought you would be happy about that," Mason said in an almost whiny tone.

"I told you to stay away from them," Katherine stated coldly.

"Why do you even care?" Mason snapped and moved away from her.

"I don't want you to get distracted. I need you to find the moonstone." She said, putting a hand on his face. He grinned at her.

"You got it?" Katherine asked in surprise.

"I got it." He smiled and leaned in to kiss her which Katherine responded to immediately.

88888888

Celeste arrived home to find James sitting at her kitchen table, waiting for her.

"I told you to leave, James." Celeste said wearily.

"Yeah, well. I would if I could, Celeste." He said in a just as weary tone. Sitting down, Celeste looked at him.

"You know, James, I spent the past three years desperately trying to forget you and forget what you and so many others did to me. I've tried to forget how our relationship turned abusive, how you hurt me in more ways than one. I know what those tests that you performed on me meant. I know that you know Isobel and apparently Katherine. Why did you do it? I thought we were close at one point—that we had something…" Celeste's voice trailed off.

"I was working for Isobel the whole time that I knew you, Celeste. No matter what I ever felt for you, I had to do my job and if I didn't, Isobel would kill me and God knows how many other people. You don't understand, I had to act like I didn't care about you even though I did. I had to make Isobel believe it. I didn't have a choice." He looked up at her and she was surprised to find remorse in his eyes.

"There's always a choice, James." Celeste stated softly and got up to leave.

"Wait Celeste. I'm sorry; I guess that's why I ultimately helped you escape because as I watched you for four years get tortured, I couldn't stand it. I'm sorry." He said in a pleading voice. Celeste paused at the doorway and turned around.

"That's not good enough." She stated before going up the stairs, leaving James alone with his thoughts.


	6. Chapter 6 - Angel's Blood

Chapter 6 – Angel's Blood 

_A/N: Hey everyone, here is chapter 6. Once again, huge shout-out of thanks to __**Daninuyasha **__for your review and encouragement! It made my day. Please read __**and **__review! It would be so wonderful to get more than one review! Hope you all like it!_

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries._**

As Celeste rolled over in her sleep, her arm touched another body. Burrowing down farther into her covers, she snuggled closer to the person. As she slowly blinked awake, her eyes looked up at James' face who was grinning widely at her. Yelping, she scooted backwards away from him. Unfortunately, she overestimated the distance and fell off the bed with a loud thud. Immediately, she jumped up and glared at him—her eyes had a wild look to them and her hair was askew.

"Why are you in my bed?!" She shouted at him.

"Your couch was uncomfortable," James shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"Get out of my room, now!" Celeste said in a dangerous tone.

"No." James said simply. Completely infuriated now, Celeste picked up some clothes and pulled on some shoes and stalked out of the room.

"Celeste, wait! Where are you going? You aren't even dressed!" James jumped out of her bed and followed her.

"I'm going out! Leave me alone, James." Celeste yelled up the stairs as she left her house. She shivered in the morning air as she jogged across the street to Elena's house.

Knocking on the door, she waited for someone to answer. When Jenna answered, her eyes widened to see Celeste there with just her pajamas on, which was just a simple tank top and sweatpants.

"Celeste! What are you doing here?" Jenna asked, laughing slightly at Celeste's appearance.

"My hot water isn't working, I was hoping I could use yours. Is that okay?" Celeste lied smoothly.

"Yeah, of course! Come on in, the bathroom is upstairs on the right," Jenna smiled and opened the door wider for Celeste.

"Thank you so much," Celeste smiled gratefully as she headed up the stairs.

As Celeste opened the door to the bathroom, she collided with another body that was undoubtedly quite wet from the shower. She was embarrassed to discover that it was Stefan.

"Oh my god, Stefan!" Celeste immediately threw a hand over her eyes. "Why are you here?"

Stefan hastily tied a towel around his waist. "I could ask you the same thing. You can look now," He said chuckling. Cautiously, Celeste slowly lowered her hand from her face and smiled nervously at Stefan. She explained what had happened earlier with James, complete with her hands waving wildly and her eyes flashing with anger. When she finished, Stefan was looking at her with wide eyes, his lips twitching slightly.

"Don't you dare laugh at me, Stefan Salvatore." Celeste said in mock severity. "Now get out of the bathroom so I can take a shower." She shoved him aside as Stefan started laughing.

88888888

When Celeste arrived downstairs after her shower, Jenna was waiting for her holding a cup of coffee and grinning.

"Don't you say anything, Jenna." Celeste laughed as she took the cup of coffee gratefully. She sighed in bliss as she tasted it.

"Don't worry, Elena and Stefan already left to go to the Lockwood's to set up for the masquerade ball, so you're safe." Jenna said reassuringly.

"Did you get forced into having to help too?" Celeste asked as she continued to drink her coffee.

"Yeah, but the masquerade ball is my favorite." She said smiling.

"Well at least you like it! Thank you for the coffee and the shower, I really appreciate it!" Celeste put her cup in the sink. They gave a quick hug to each other before Celeste left and walked back over to her house.

When she arrived, she quietly looked around hoping against hope that James had left. Deciding that the coast was clear, she made her way upstairs to her room and was disappointed to still see James comfortably lying in her bed.

"Looks like I will need to get new sheets now that mine are contaminated." She said, glaring at him.

"Now, now Celeste. You wouldn't want me to have to break your neck, would you?" He threatened her.

"You know, James. I may not know that much about my species, but I am pretty sure that I'm stronger than the average human being—being part angel and all. So I would suggest that you keep your threats to a minimum." She said calmly, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Is that a challenge?" James asked in a dangerously low tone, his entire demeanor changing from somewhat teasing to silently calculating—like a lion circling his prey.

"So what if it is?" Celeste asked defiantly. Suddenly, he moved faster than she thought was humanly possible and was standing in front of her, his face uncomfortably close to hers.

"I wouldn't say that if I were you," He leaned in and whispered, his lips brushing her ear.

"Try and stop me, James." She hissed at him. She didn't even see his hand coming as he backhanded her across her face, his ring cutting her just below her eye.

She stared up at him, her eyes wide in shock. Dozens of memories flashed in her mind of when they were together and he had abused her. Celeste closed her eyes and willed the flashbacks to settle back into the recesses of her mind. She stared up at him with hate and pain filled eyes. The part of him that cared about her was actually gone—all that was left was the terrible, abusive person that was made by Isobel and Katherine. Wiping the blood away with her hand, she grabbed her purse and immediately ran out of the house, desperate to get away.

As she got in her car and drove away, she didn't even know where she was going until she ended up at the Salvatore house. She didn't even know why she drove there, of all places. She knew that Stefan and Elena were at the Lockwood's, leaving only Damon at the house. She looked in the rearview mirror and saw that the cut had already healed itself leaving no trace that it ever existed. Her eyes however told a different story because she had been crying as she drove over there. She quickly wiped the excess tears away and tried wiping the redness away as well.

When she deemed herself presentable, she hesitantly knocked on the door. Damon flung open the door and when he saw it was Celeste, he smirked.

"Just couldn't stay away from me, could you?" He asked sarcastically.

"I was wondering how the situation with Liz was going? I really need to get James out of my house," Celeste said, laughing slightly. As Damon looked at her closer, he noticed her red eyes.

Narrowing his eyes at her he asked, "Did he do something?"

"No, no, I'm fine. He's just….being James. And I need to get him out of my house." She gave him a grin but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Damon didn't believe her but decided not to press the subject any further.

"Liz is still in the cell but I promise that you will be the first to know when she leaves," Damon told her.

"Damon, who is it?" Alaric asked as he walked up behind Damon. When he saw Celeste, he smiled broadly. "Celeste! So good to see you, I heard about your shower this morning." Rick grinned.

"Rick….how did you find out about that?" Celeste asked suspiciously.

"I have my sources," He shrugged his shoulders and gave her a wink. Celeste rolled her eyes, of course Jenna would tell him.

"Oh, what shower?" Damon asked a little too eagerly looking between the two of them.

"Celeste saw Ste…" Rick began to say before Celeste cut him off.

"No one! I didn't see anyone." She glared at Alaric but he merely laughed. Changing the subject, she asked, "What are you guys up to? Oh and Jeremy is here, hey!" She greeted Jeremy as she walked into the parlor and saw that he was there.

"It seems our little werewolf friend is after a moonstone. Little Gilbert here is the one who brought it to my attention and now he won't leave, even though his sister will most likely kill him if she finds out he was helping us." Damon said in an exasperated tone.

"So what? It's not like I haven't been killed before," Jeremy said sarcastically giving a pointed to look to Damon, who shrugged his shoulders in indifference.

"According to the legend, the werewolf part of the curse is sealed with the moonstone," Rick explained showing them a map that displayed the story of the Sun and the Moon curse.

"What do you mean sealed?" Celeste asked.

"It's a witch thing, whatever seals the curse is usually the key to unsealing the curse," Damon told her.

"Maybe Mason Lockwood believes he can use the moonstone to break the curse." Alaric suggested.

"If we start believing in some supernatural witchy-woo legend from a picture book, we're idiots." Damon said sarcastically before turning to Jeremy and asking, "Do you know who has the stone now?"

"Tyler." Jeremy replied.

"Can you get it?" Damon asked and Jeremy nodded.

"So you do believe in all that?" Celeste asked, somewhat surprised.

"It's the same book that says a werewolf bite kills a vampire. Ignoring it would make me an even bigger idiot. Let's go." Damon said as he got up to leave.

"What do you mean? Where are we going?" Celeste asked in confusion.

"We are going to help set up the masquerade ball," He said in a matter of fact voice, as if it made perfect sense that was where they were going. Celeste raised her eyebrows, surprised that he would help with anything let alone a masquerade ball.

88888888

When they had arrived at the mansion, Celeste followed Damon begrudgingly in the mansion, all the while mumbling under her breath about him.

"You do realize that I have super power hearing and I can hear every word you are saying?" Damon paused and turned to give her an annoyed look while Celeste had the decency to look somewhat sheepish. When Damon spied Elena he made his way over to her with Celeste following closely behind.

"Damon, what are you doing here?" Elena asked in surprise. When Elena saw Celeste standing slightly behind Damon, she added in a suspicious voice, "And why is Celeste with you?"

"Looking for my baby bro. Speaking of, would you tell yours to stop following me around?" Damon asked in an annoyed tone.

"What's going on?" Elena asked warily.

"Ask eager beaver," Damon said sardonically before walking away as Jeremy made his way over to them.

"Elena, calm down. Jeremy has a good head on his shoulders and I've been there the whole time." Celeste said reassuringly. Celeste mentally shrugged; there was no reason to tell Elena that technically she hadn't been there the _whole_ time—that was a minor detail.

"You don't understand, Celeste. You don't know Damon like I do. He manipulates people and doesn't care who gets caught in the crossfire when he's trying to get what he wants." Elena tried explaining to her before turning to her brother and saying, "Jeremy, what is he making you do?"

"He's not making me do anything, Damon and I…." Jeremy defended himself until Elena cut him off.

"Uh, no. No way. No, no, no. There is no 'Damon and you'. There's Damon and whoever Damon is using. Whatever is going on Jeremy, I want you to stay out of it." Elena said in a commanding tone.

"Well, Elena, I don't really care what you want. It's because of you that I'm in this mess in the first place, so I'm sorry but you really don't get to tell me what to do," Jeremy snapped before stalking off.

"Listen Elena, everything will be okay, okay? I promise I will be there the whole time with Jeremy. And Rick has been with us too, you know that we wouldn't let anything happen to him." Celeste said gently as she rubbed her hand on Elena's back.

"I feel like I'm losing him, Celeste. I can't let that happen," Elena whispered.

"I know. You won't, okay? Trust me." Celeste soothed her.

88888888

When Celeste found Damon and Stefan again, they were talking in hushed tones together. When she got nearer to them, Stefan was shaking his head and walking away with Damon looking on with a smirk on his face.

"What did you do, Damon?" Celeste asked irritably.

"Why do people always assume that I'm the one that did anything?" Damon asked in mock innocence. Celeste merely ignored him before jogging after Stefan to catch up with him.

"Stefan!" Celeste breathed when she caught up with him. "What happened?"

"Nothing, just Damon being Damon." He said distractingly. Celeste stared at him, noticing that his lips were pursed together and he seemed to be concentrating.

"What are you doing?" She asked in puzzlement.

"I'm listening," He vaguely stated. When she looked to see where he was staring at, she saw that he was listening to Jeremy and Tyler's conversation. Her mouth formed an 'o' in understanding.

"What are they saying?" She asked.

"Tyler doesn't have the moonstone…he gave it to Mason." He said frustrated, running a hand through his hair. "Now we have to figure out a different way to get it."

"Good thing I have brains and I'm not all good looks and charm," Damon grinned as he appeared next to them, making Celeste jump slightly.

"What did you have in mind?" Stefan asked.

88888888

Successfully pulling their plan off, they would need the assistance of Bonnie which would definitely not be an easy task. However, with the help of Stefan and Celeste, Bonnie agreed to help them. Celeste, Damon, and Stefan were currently standing a little ways away, watching Bonnie do her part of the plan with Mason.

As soon as she used her witchy powers on him the three of them moved in and put Mason's unconscious form in the back of Mason's jeep. Stefan was staying behind with Elena while Celeste and Bonnie climbed in the jeep with Damon and he drove off to the boarding house. When they arrived, Damon dumped Mason's body on a nearby chair and began to spread out a plastic tarp on the ground.

"Grab that corner," He directed Bonnie.

"Why are we doing this?" She asked in puzzlement.

"Because I don't want to stain the carpet," Damon explained and handed another corner of the tarp to Celeste.

"I knew you were going to say something like that," Bonnie sighed.

"You're judging again…" Damon said in a sing song voice.

Ignoring Damon's comment Bonnie said, "He's not going to be out for much longer."

As Damon shuffled through Mason's bag he pulled out some heavy duty looking chains. "Whoa. Looks like this guy is used to being tied up." Celeste and Bonnie rolled their eyes at Damon's antics. Moving to stand in front of Mason, Bonnie put both of her hands on either side of Mason's head and closed her eyes in concentration.

"What are you doing?" Celeste asked curiously.

"You all are looking for a moonstone. I'm trying to help you find it," She said distractingly.

"Oh good! Find out if he gave it to Katherine, and find out where she is. And find out what they're gonna do with it once they get it." Damon rambled annoyingly.

"Damon, shut up and let Bonnie do her thing," Celeste hushed him.

"It's somewhere small…dark. There's water," Bonnie said as she concentrated.

"Like a sewer?" Damon asked.

"No. Like a well? That can't be right. Yeah, it's a well," Bonnie confirmed and lowered her hands and opened her eyes.

"Why would it be in a well?" Damon asked in confusion.

"I told you, I only get what I get." Bonnie shrugged. At that moment Mason groaned and grabbed Bonnie's wrist firmly. She gasped and tried to twist away but he had a firm hold on her. Damon quickly ran over there and pried Mason's hand off of her.

Bonnie started to walk away but paused when Damon called, "Hey, judgey!"

She turned around and stared at him expectantly. "Thank you," Damon said sincerely.

"Okay, how about Bonnie and I go find that well and the moonstone while you do your thing with Mason?" Celeste suggested and Bonnie nodded.

Bonnie and Celeste made their way to the front door when they were stopped by Caroline in the hallway.

"Hey!" Caroline called as they were walking.

Turning around, Bonnie said somewhat shyly, "Hi. How's your mom? Elena filled me in on everything."

"I'm going to take her home tonight," Caroline smiled.

"That's great, Care!" Celeste said genuinely.

"Caroline…Um... Never mind, I've got to go," Bonnie stumbled over her words and tried to leave but Celeste grabbed her arm before she could run out the door.

"What Bonnie is _trying_ to say is, do you know of any old wells around here?" Celeste asked hopefully. Caroline hesitated, thinking.

"What about that old well we used to play at when we were kids?" Bonnie asked, suddenly thinking of it.

"Yeah, yeah I do!" Caroline replied.

"It's in the woods, do you remember where?" Bonnie asked.

"It's on the edge of the old Lockwood property. Why?" Caroline asked curiously. Bonnie pulled out her phone and began to text Stefan.

"We think that's where Mason is keeping the moonstone," Celeste explained. Bonnie started to move towards the door to leave before Caroline interrupted.

"Well, I could come with you." Caroline said hopefully.

"No, it's okay." Bonnie said awkwardly.

"We would be happy for you to come with us, Caroline," Celeste smiled and elbowed Bonnie slightly.

"Sure," Bonnie smiled at Caroline encouragingly before they all left the house to go in search of the well and the moonstone.

88888888

All of three of them were walking through the woods towards the well, when Caroline stopped suddenly.

"Care, what's wrong?" Celeste asked in concern.

"Elena." Caroline stated vaguely before she took off running, completely disappearing out of Bonnie and Celeste's sight.

"This is the part of the show where I wish I had super speed!" Celeste panted as she and Bonnie ran after Caroline. Bonnie merely groaned in response.

When Caroline arrived at the well, she found a frantic Elena trying to pick up the heavy chain on the ground.

"Elena! What's wrong?" Caroline asked worriedly.

"Caroline, Stefan's down there and the chain is rusted." Elena explained. When Caroline moved towards the well to climb in, Elena grabbed her arm, pulling her back. "No, no! You can't, it's filled with vervain. Caroline, we've got to get him out, now!" Caroline nodded and grabbed the rusted chain from off of the ground.

Elena glanced at Stefan in the well and was dismayed to see him slowly sinking beneath the water, seemingly unconscious. Caroline briefly put a hand on Elena's shoulder before she helped Elena wrap the chain around herself. Celeste and Bonnie ran up at that exact moment.

"What's going on? You just took off in a blur," Bonnie breathlessly asked.

"I heard Elena screaming. Both of you help her, now!" Caroline commanded them. Bonnie grabbed Elena's hand as she was slowly lowered in the well while Celeste helped Caroline with the chain.

"Are you ready?" Celeste asked.

"Yeah," Elena confirmed and they began to lower her down.

When Elena arrived at the bottom, Stefan was floating face down in the water. Elena worked quickly wrapping the chain around Stefan while trying not to concentrate on all the developing burns and welts on his body.

"Pull him up!" Elena called up to them when he was secure. Bonnie and Celeste untied Stefan from the chain and gently lowered him to the ground while Caroline threw the chain back down to Elena.

"Elena! Ready for you!" Caroline yelled down to Elena.

"Hold on! I need to find the stone!" Elena shouted up to them as she groped around in the cracks of the wall. She frantically searched in the water before she finally found a small wooden box.

"Hold on! I think I found it!" She called up triumphantly. As she grabbed the box however, a snake crawled up her arm and began to wrap itself around her. Screaming she shook it off of her, and desperately tied the chain back around her.

"Elena! What's going on?" Celeste shouted down to her, worry inching its way in her voice.

"I got it! Come on! Bring me up!" Elena yelled.

Working together, Celeste and Caroline reeled Elena up from the well. When she got to the top, Bonnie helped her out and Elena immediately ran over to Stefan and cradled his head in her lap.

"Oh, god! Stefan," Elena breathed when she saw him up close. His face was covered in ugly blisters and he was still unconscious. Seeing a rock nearby, she quickly cut her wrist with it, before moving to place her wrist over his mouth.

"Elena, wait! You are covered in vervain, if he were to put his mouth on your arm right now it would just make things worse." Celeste stopped Elena from feeding Stefan her blood.

"What can we do then? We can't just leave him there!" Elena exclaimed.

Celeste thought for a moment before answering Elena. "I could feed him my blood."

"That could kill him, Celeste." Elena stared at her.

"Or it could make him heal ten times faster, we don't really have a choice though do we?" Celeste asked, looking at Elena and then Caroline.

"Do it." Caroline said and Elena nodded.

Cutting herself on the same rock, Celeste hesitantly placed her wrist over Stefan's mouth and softly spoke soothing words to him. Regaining consciousness, his eyes registered surprise to see Celeste standing over him, but he placed his hands over her wrist and drank deeply. Pulling away, Celeste placed her hand over her own wrist until it healed itself. For a moment, it seemed that Stefan had lost consciousness again. Celeste, Bonnie, and Caroline all waited with bated breath. Then, within a minute, all of the welts and burns were gone and he sat up. Breathing a sigh of relief, Celeste broke out in a smile.

88888888

Celeste arrived back home, totally exhausted. She was happy that her blood had saved Stefan rather than have killed him but she wondered what controlled the effect of her blood on vampires. Her body was a mystery that was for sure, but she wished she didn't feel as much in the dark as she did. For a second, she wondered where James was because he didn't seem to be in her house, but being totally honest with herself, she really didn't care at this point. Collapsing on her couch, she decided to take a quick power nap. Falling asleep immediately, she began to dream.

_She was dreaming about Elena. In fact, she was seeing Elena's kitchen, and Elena, Jenna, and Alaric were all there. Suddenly the phone rang. Jenna answered it and spoke in it for a moment before handing the phone to Elena. As Elena was talking, her face changed from smiling to panicked look. Quickly hanging up the phone, Elena turned around to find Jenna holding a knife in the air about to stab herself. Elena screamed running over to her._

Celeste jerked awake, panting. Somehow, she didn't know how she knew, but she knew that that wasn't an ordinary dream. Jumping up from the couch, she ran out of her door and across the street to Elena's. Bursting through Elena's front door and running in the kitchen, she saw Elena on the phone and Jenna standing with a knife in the air, about to stab herself.

"Jenna! NO!" Celeste screamed but everything seemed to happen in slow motion and she couldn't stop it. She watched in horror as Elena and Alaric turned around at her scream and saw at the same moment as Jenna brought the knife down in a violent stab in her stomach before collapsing to the ground. Celeste, Elena, and Alaric all moved to her side.

"Oh my god, Jenna. You are going to be alright, okay? Stay with me." Elena choked as tears ran down her face. Celeste immediately got up to grab the knife and went to cut her wrist but Elena stopped her.

"No! She can't know about you, because she'll start asking questions about everything. I can't have her compelled again. Not after this," Elena said desperately and Celeste nodded before putting the knife down.

Alaric called 911 as Celeste and Elena stayed with Jenna trying to stop the blood. Celeste's and Elena's eyes met for a moment in mutual understanding and Celeste grabbed Elena's hand. Suddenly, Jenna began coughing violently and Celeste saw with dismay blood trickling out of her mouth. As Celeste tried to ease her pain, Jenna stilled and her eyes began to roll back into her head.

"No, no, no! Don't you dare die on me, Jenna!" Celeste yelled through her tears as she began to perform CPR on her with Elena looking on in pure horror. At that moment, the paramedics arrived and pushed Celeste out of the way and continued with compressions while moving Jenna out of the house and into the ambulance.

Elena and Alaric followed the paramedics outside into the ambulance, leaving Celeste on the ground in their kitchen. Celeste slumped against the kitchen cabinets with her knees pulled up to her chest and her hands limply hanging by her side. Celeste hung her head as she cried bitterly; totally and completely alone.

_A/N: Thanks for reading, hope you all enjoyed it! Please review! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and have a great day wherever you are. _


	7. Chapter 7 - Masquerade

Chapter 7 – Masquerade

_ A/N: Hey all, sorry I'm a little late getting this chapter up. Anyways, I didn't get any reviews on the last chapter which was a little disappointing. Please consider leaving a review after reading, it really makes it worth it for me to keep writing. Anyways, enough of that—hope you all enjoy this chapter!_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries.**

Damon hesitantly knocked on the front door of Elena's house and frowned as the door swung open on its own accord. He cautiously walked in and hesitated as he listened to see if anyone was there. Hearing someone in the kitchen, he made his way over to the source of the sound. As he walked in, he saw Celeste on the ground scrubbing the kitchen floor. He could see that there was still some residual blood on the kitchen floor from Jenna.

"Hey Damon. What are you doing here?" Celeste said in surprise as she stood up and wiped her forehead with back of her hand.

"Have you been here all night?" He asked in surprise as he looked at her. Her hands were stained with blood and she had dark circles under her eyes, which he could see were also red and puffy from crying.

"Yeah, I've been trying to get the blood off of Elena's floor but it isn't really working," She shrugged her shoulders, but frustration was written all over her face.

"Has anyone told you the update about Jenna?" Damon asked hesitantly.

"Told me what?" Celeste's face immediately became a carefully guarded mask.

"She is going to be okay, she gets to come home in a couple days." Damon told her.

"Oh. No one had told me, thank you. That's great," She sighed in relief.

"You look terrible, you should go get some sleep," Damon said with some of his humor creeping its way into his voice. A faint smile briefly flickered over Celeste's face, but it didn't reach her eyes where tears were brimming on the surface.

Frowning slightly Damon asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Everything's fine. I won't fall apart, Damon. Not yet, at least." She laughed slightly and ran a hand through her hair. "But, you're right. I'm going to head home and go to bed." Damon nodded in understanding and walked her to the front door.  
>"Thanks for coming by and updating me." Celeste smiled at him before leaving.<p>

88888888

Celeste groaned as her phone started ringing, waking her from her blissful sleep. Answering, she mumbled something that at least closely resembled English.

"Hey it's me," Damon answered. "You need to come over; we have a little situation developing."

"Why do you hate me?" Celeste whined into the phone.

"Just get up and get over here. And bring some cheese to have with your whining," Damon rolled his eyes and hung up the phone.

Rolling out of bed, Celeste fixed her hair and changed quickly before driving over to the Salvatore's house.

When she arrived, she walked in there to find Caroline sitting on the couch with a glass of blood in her hand and Damon and Stefan talking to her.

"This had better be a life and death situation," Celeste grumbled to them as she walked in and helped herself to a glass of bourbon before plopping herself down in one of the chairs.

"Whoa there crabby, this is actually somewhat important. Our dear friend Katherine is back in town." Damon informed her sarcastically.

"What happened?" Celeste asked much more interested now.

Caroline proceeded to tell them how she ran into Katherine at the Grill. "She had a message for Stefan and Damon—she said that if she doesn't get the moonstone she is going to rip the town apart."

"Tell him the rest of it," Damon urged her.

"She is going to do it tonight, at the masquerade ball." Caroline said.

"She wants to do it in public. Killing Mason threw her off guard." Stefan stated.

Nodding in agreement, Damon added, "She's running scared. What she did to Jenna was desperate, she's out of tricks."

"We can't underestimate her. We have to play this smarter than her," Stefan said thoughtfully.

Deciding to speak up now, Celeste asked, "Can't we just give her the moonstone so she'll leave?"

"No, Katherine's not getting dick. I've had it. I'm gonna go to the masquerade ball and I'm going to kill her, tonight." Damon said angrily.

"Uh-uh, you're not gonna kill her," Stefan contradicted.

"Don't give me that goody-goody crap." Damon said in a warning tone.

"You're not going to kill her, because _I'm_ going to kill her." Stefan smiled darkly.

"Well that's all well and good boys, but how do you propose we kill her? It's Katherine, she's going to be five steps ahead of us." Celeste said reasonably.

"Yeah, we need a fool proof plan that has absolutely no holes in it." Caroline agreed.

88888888

They had been brainstorming all afternoon, trying to come up with the perfect plan of how to kill Katherine. Alaric had come over and Jeremy and Bonnie were on their way. The plan was slowly coming together and Celeste was getting more apprehensive for the night as the hours ticked by. After hearing a knock at the door she opened it to find Bonnie standing there.

"Hey Bonnie, come on in. Thanks for coming," Celeste smiled and opened the door wider for Bonnie to come in.

"Hey. I got Stefan's message," Bonnie said they walked into the parlor.

Seeing Bonnie, Stefan smiled and said, "Hey, you brought the grimoire, thank you."

"What's going on?" She asked cautiously as she saw Damon and Alaric talking quietly with a bunch of weapons on the table in front of them.

"We're going to kill Katherine," Jeremy said as he brushed by Bonnie having just arrived.

Stefan put his hands up in a calming gesture. "I can explain."

"Please do," Bonnie said as she crossed her arms.

"Well, we're going to kill Katherine," Stefan shrugged while Bonnie rolled her eyes at him.

Alaric came over with Damon holding a weapon that was a leather sheath with two slots that could hold two wooden stakes. "This works with compressed air. The trigger mechanism is up here. I have two of these in a different size. It fits nicely under the jacket sleeve. You use the trigger when you're ready." After he explained how it worked, he pressed the trigger and a stake shot out into his hand and he faked killing a vampire.

"What are you all going to do about Elena? She isn't exactly the type of person who willingly stays out of something like this," Celeste asked looking between Stefan and Damon.

"That's where Alaric comes in," Damon said, glancing at Rick. "He is going to stay with Elena and make sure she doesn't find out about our little plan."

"Are you sure you guys don't want me there tonight?" Rick asked hesitantly.

Stefan shook his head. "No, you need to stay with Elena. She can't know about this."

"Okay. Well, I'll make sure she doesn't leave my sight then." Rick said determinedly.

"Alright, if anyone wants to back out, I understand." Stefan said looking around at every person in the room.

Deciding to say his input, Damon added, "Yeah. If any of you have cold feet, speak now. I don't want this going wrong if someone chicken's out. Caroline?" Damon gave a pointed look to her.

"I won't. Look, she killed me. Fair's fair. As long as there's no werewolf running around," Caroline shrugged.

"Oh I took care of Mason, don't worry." Damon reassured her.

Jeremy added, "As long as Tyler doesn't kill anyone, he won't turn."

Looking at Bonnie Stefan asked, "Bonnie? Are you with us?"

Bonnie took a long moment to think before answering. "But no one gets hurt."

"Except Katherine. Tonight Katherine gets a stake in the heart," Damon grinned.

88888888

Celeste went home with butterflies in her stomach. In a weird way she was kind of disappointed that Katherine would be killed tonight because she knew that Katherine knew more about Celeste's species than anyone else—except probably Isobel and James.

Opening her closet, Celeste rummaged through it trying to find a suitable dress for the ball tonight. She decided on a floor length pale blue dress. It was relatively simple and even had pockets, but it was still elegant. It was strapless and tight on the top with an empire waistline before flowing down loosely. Celeste chose to wear comfortable ballet flats because she wanted to be able to move quickly and freely without worrying about tripping and falling if she had heels. She put her hair up in a loose bun with some strands hanging down to frame her face. She did her makeup light and wore pearl earrings.

When Celeste arrived at the ball, she looked around for Stefan or Damon. When she located them, she walked over. She chuckled slightly when she saw Damon's mouth drop slightly open, looking at her with wide eyes.

"Damon close your mouth, you'll catch a fly. And don't look so surprised, I am capable of looking somewhat nice, you know." Celeste teased him as she walked up. "Any sign of Katherine?"

"Nope. No sign of the bitch anywhere," Damon said irritably.

Smiling Stefan said, "You look very nice, Celeste."

"Why thank you, Stefan, you look quite dashing yourself." Celeste grinned. "As for you Damon, why don't you go get some drinks? Maybe it will improve your mood." Damon rolled his eyes but still walked away to go grab the drinks.

"So Stefan, would you like to dance?" Celeste asked, offering Stefan her hand. Smiling he took it and led her onto the dance floor.

"I hope you and Elena can fix things after tonight," Celeste said softly as they danced.

"I do too," Stefan smiled somewhat sadly at Celeste.

They danced for a while before Celeste turned around, feeling a tap on her shoulder. Smiling when she saw it was Damon with drinks, she took the glass gratefully.

"Keep an eye out for Katherine," Damon said to Stefan before offering his arm to Celeste and leading her away towards the mansion.

"Celeste, you do look quite smashing," Damon whispered teasingly into her ear.

Smirking Celeste said, "Oh Damon, you're so much cuter when you don't open your mouth."

When they walked inside the house, Celeste turned around and unsurprisingly saw Katherine talking to Stefan. Nudging Damon to look, they both nodded to each other before going their separate ways—each having their own job to do for tonight.

Celeste casually meandered around the mansion, munching on different foods and waiting for the text message that would be her signal to do her part of the plan. Hearing a buzz in her pocket, she pulled out her phone and grinned as she saw that it was her turn.

Walking outside, Celeste began to look for Katherine. When she found her, she hovered nearby where Katherine was but pretended not to see her—knowing that Katherine would make contact soon enough with Celeste.

"Celeste. I did not expect to see you here," Katherine sneered at her as she walked up behind Celeste. Inching herself closer to Celeste, she whispered, "What are Stefan and Damon up to?"

"What do you mean?" Celeste asked turning around with confusion written on her face.

"I've got Jeremy Gilbert luring me out to the lake…what's going on?"

"I don't know…nothing. Seems like someone is getting a bit paranoid don't you think?" Celeste asked her mockingly.

Moving quickly, Katherine wrapped her hand around Celeste's throat and began to squeeze. She lifted her up in the air to where only her toes were brushing the ground.

"Don't lie to me, Celeste. What are they up to?" Katherine asked slowly and deliberately.

"I don't know, Katherine! I saw them talking with Caroline earlier, but that's all. I swear!" Celeste gasped out.

Immediately dropping her, Katherine leaned in close to her face and whispered, "Don't forget that I always have someone watching you, Celeste." With that Katherine walked away back into the mansion in search of Caroline. Celeste smirked at Katherine's back as she walked away.

Celeste texted Caroline as she walked back to where Jeremy and Bonnie were. Grinning, Celeste looked up as she approached where Jeremy and Bonnie were and the smile quickly dropped from her face. Elena was there and it looked like that the three of them were in a heated discussion.

"Elena! What are you doing here?" Celeste asked in a sharp, hushed tone as she hurried over to them.

"Are you guys crazy trying to kill Katherine? You are all going to get yourselves killed!" Elena said angrily.

Taking a deep breath and placing an arm on Elena's shoulder, Celeste said, "We know what we're doing, Elena."

"And how am I supposed to feel if one of you guys gets hurt because of me?" She asked looking at the three of them expectantly.

"It's not just you anymore, Elena. She's messed with all of us, she has to be stopped," Jeremy stated honestly.

Shaking her head, Elena frustratingly ran a hand through her hair, worry creasing her forehead. Suddenly, Elena screamed.

"Elena, what's wrong?" Celeste asked in alarm. Elena braced her hands on the table and began to sink to the ground. Putting a hand on her back to steady here, Celeste was surprised to find her hand soaked with blood.

"It's Katherine, she's linked to Katherine. Jeremy, go get them to stop! Now!" Bonnie shouted to Jeremy and he ran off to get them.

Elena moaned and whispered, "Bonnie, it hurts."

"I can't break the spell, Elena. I'm so sorry, but I can try to take some of the pain away, okay?" Bonnie said apologetically, her eyes full of pain that she couldn't help Elena.

Celeste didn't even know what she was doing before she had already done it. Before Bonnie could do anything to help Elena, Celeste was laying her hands on Elena's back. She was mumbling words in another language that she didn't even know that she knew. It was as if Celeste's lips were moving on their own accord. Then, as suddenly as she started she stopped.

Celeste gasped as the pain hit her. Gripping the table she clenched her jaw as the pain whipped across her back, shoulder, and hand. She could feel the blood start to flow from the wounds. She had somehow switched places with Elena. She had literally absorbed Elena's pain and took it upon herself.

"How did you do that?" Bonnie asked in disbelief.

Shaking her head, Celeste groaned, "I don't know. It just kinda happened. Elena, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I don't have any pain at all anymore. Celeste, you didn't have to do that. Thank you," Elena said genuinely as she laid a comforting hand on Celeste.

Celeste moaned, as the pain steadily began to get worse. Unfortunately, it seemed that when Celeste took Elena's pain she also took Elena's human aspect so she was unable to heal herself. Celeste slowly sunk to the ground, hanging on to the table for support.

Jeremy ran up at that moment breathless. He saw that Elena seemed to be fine but Celeste was on the ground. Frowning in puzzlement, he said, "I let them know. What happened?"

"Celeste took Elena's pain. There's another witch here, Jeremy stay here while I go find her." Bonnie said as she got up determinedly.

"Wait. I can heal; tell Stefan and Damon they can kill Katherine. I can come back remember?" Celeste hissed out.

"No, Celeste. You aren't healing now so who knows what would happen if they killed her. And we don't know for sure what supernatural being can kill you; for all we know it could somehow be Katherine." Elena interjected before Bonnie or Jeremy could say anything. Nodding, Bonnie left in search of the other witch.

88888888

Damon irritably poured himself a glass of scotch. This night was not going how he imagined it would. He was stuck in a room with Katherine and Stefan and he was unable to kill Katherine.

Quickly draining his glass he barely suppressed a groan as Katherine called to him, "We're missing the party. I'll have one of those."

Rolling his eyes, Damon mimicked a little boy's voice, "Right away, Miss Katherine." Walking over he handed her the glass.

"Thank you." She said as she grabbed it and took a sip. As she was sipping, Damon grabbed her and pinned her up against the wall with a stake in his hand, ready to strike.

"No! Damon, don't!" Stefan cried.

Smirking Katherine said, "Yes, Damon, please."

Damon growled in frustration. "The second the spell is lifted, I'm going to drive a stake right through your heart."

"God, you're hot. When did you get so hot?" Katherine licked her lips and looked him up and down appreciatively.

Lucy, Katherine's witch, arrived at the doorway with the moonstone in her hand. "Katherine, the spell on this room has been broken, you're free to leave."

"Thank God." Katherine said.

"When I hand this over, my debt to you is over," Lucy said carefully.

Katherine nodded. "Done."

"I owe you nothing," Lucy clarified.

Katherine huffed impatiently. "I said done. Give it," She held her hand out expectantly. Lucy handed her the moonstone and the moment it touched Katherine's hand the effects were instantaneous. Katherine began to choke violently, unable to breathe.

Shaking her head Lucy said, "You should have told me another witch was involved. She's a Bennett witch, Katherine, but I'm sure you knew that."

"Wait! What about Elena?" Stefan asked in alarm.

"Elena's fine," Lucy reassured him. Katherine fell to the floor, unconscious. "The spell is broken, Elena will heal quickly. Bonnie is with her. I apologize for my involvement." Lucy gave them a small smile before leaving the room.

88888888

While Stefan made his way back to where Jeremy, Bonnie and Elena were, Damon was taking care of Katherine—sealing her in the tomb to be exact. When Stefan arrived, he was surprised to see the three of them helping Celeste off of the ground.

"Celeste, what happened?" Stefan asked.

"I took Elena's pain," Celeste said simply as she weakly stood up.

Stefan's eyebrows rose in surprise. "How did you do that?"

"I have no idea," Celeste laughed but it quickly turned into a grimace. "I think the cuts are healing, but they are healing a lot slower than usual."

"Do you need help getting home?" Jeremy asked with concern in his voice.

Celeste shook her head. "No, I'll be fine. What happened with Katherine?"

Stefan explained to them about how Lucy had put a spell on the moonstone and how Katherine was now unconscious. He explained how Damon was getting rid of her at that moment and they wouldn't be seeing her any time soon.

"I'm glad everything worked out," Celeste said before she turned to Elena. "And I'm glad you're okay, Elena. It was worth it." Celeste smiled and squeezed Elena's hand.

Saying her goodbyes, Celeste began to weakly walk back to her car. Feeling someone come up behind her, she was surprised to find Jeremy beside her, slipping an arm around her waist and gently guiding her to her car.

"Jer, I'm fine, really." Celeste protested.

"Just let me drive you home, Celeste. You live right by me, it's no trouble. Besides you can barely walk without stumbling," Jeremy said with a grin.

"That's just how I walk normally," Celeste laughed. "But thank you, I really appreciate it."

Jeremy helped her into the passenger seat of her car before climbing into the driver's seat and driving away.

_A/N: Thanks for reading! Please read and review! Have a great day wherever you are. _


	8. Chapter 8 - Visions

Chapter 8 – Visions

_A/N: Hello everyone! I'm so so sorry it has been so long since I updated! The holidays snuck up on me and I was also hitting a writer's block on where to go with this chapter. But I finally got through this chapter and hopefully the other chapters will come easier. I hope you all had a great holiday season and have been having a great new year so far! I promise that I will update sooner in between each chapter. Please read and review! _

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries.**

Celeste woke up the next day relieved to find that all of her wounds from the night before had completely healed. Stretching slightly, she burrowed down deeper into her bed, enjoying the comfort of it.

As she was standing up, she suddenly felt a sharp jab of pain in her head. Gasping in pain, she sat back down and began to massage the sides of her head. After it seemed to dissipate, she began to walk towards the bathroom. Then the pain came back again, stronger than before and relentless. Crying out as the pain grew stronger, Celeste collapsed on the ground with her hands placed protectively on either side of her head. As the pain grew worse she began to see images flashing in her mind. She tried to concentrate on what the images looked like, despite the sharp pain incessantly stabbing at her mind.

As she focused, she realized that the images were of Elena. She seemed to be lying on a couch, unharmed but definitely somewhere different. Elena was in an abandoned house and Celeste saw that there was a man and woman there quietly talking with each other but Elena seemed to be unconscious. Celeste could tell that the man and woman were vampires. The images began to fade away as well as the pain in her head. When it was completely gone, Celeste laid on the ground for a moment, breathing deeply.

What could this mean? Why was Celeste beginning to have visions? Could what she saw be something that was actually happening? Worry gnawing at Celeste's stomach, she quickly got up and ran out of her house across the street to Elena's.

Pounding on their front door and ringing the doorbell, nobody answered. Running a hand through her hair in frustration, Celeste left Elena's house and ran back to hers in search of her phone. When she arrived, she ran up the stairs to her room and grabbed her phone and dialed Stefan's number.

"Hey Celeste, is everything okay?" Stefan answered.

"No it's not. Listen, we have a problem, it's about Elena." Celeste said tensely.

"I know, I just talked to Jeremy. No one knows where she is. Wait, how did you know she was missing? I was the first person Jeremy talked to," Stefan asked in puzzlement.

"I'll explain later. I'll meet you and Damon at the high school." Celeste stated.

"Why aren't you already at the school teaching your class?" Stefan asked curiously.

Celeste answered, "I took some time off because I wanted to figure some things out. Anyway, I'll meet you over there okay?" With that, Celeste hung up her phone and began to get dressed for the day.

88888888

When Celeste arrived at the school, she saw Damon was already there and he and Stefan were talking quietly. As she approached them, she asked, "Did either of you find any information about who could have taken Elena?"

Stefan shook his head, "No, but this has Katherine written all over it."

"Katherine's in the tomb. Trust me; I'm the one who shut her in." Damon stated.

Stefan looked at Damon with doubt in his eyes, "Did you?"

"Did I what, Stefan?" Damon asked in an irritated tone.

Celeste laid a restraining hand on Damon. "What Stefan means is, we know how Katherine can be and the hold she has on you."

"She's in the tomb, period. End of story. But she did say something to me right before I shut her in. I thought she was lying." Damon shrugged his shoulders.

"What did she say?" Stefan asked.

Damon answered somewhat sheepishly, "That Elena is in danger."

Celeste shoved him. "What? And you didn't think to ask her to elaborate?"

"Everything she says is a lie. How am I supposed to know if she's going to start spouting out the truth?"

Stefan said frustratingly, "We have to go talk to her."

Damon shook his head. "No, no. Let me tell you how that's gonna go: We're going to go ask her for help, she's going to negotiate her release which we're going to be dumb enough to give her and she's going to get out and kill us! This is exactly what she wants!"

"Well I don't really care." Stefan stated firmly.

"None of you are going anywhere," Celeste said in a firm tone. Damon and Stefan both looked at her in confusion.

"I know where Elena is, at least the general idea of where she is." Celeste said simply.

Damon rolled his eyes at in her exasperation. "That would have been helpful information at the beginning of this conversation. Where is she? And how do you know where she is?"

Celeste hesitated slightly, not sure how to exactly explain the vision she had. "Well, I may have had a vision about where she is…"

"You're not serious," Damon said in unbelief.

"What do you mean 'vision'?" Stefan asked curiously.

Celeste explained to them what had happened that morning and how she saw Elena in an abandoned house with two vampires.

"One of you should go talk to Bonnie to see if there are any spells she could do to help find Elena. On second thought, Stefan you should probably go, she's not a big fan of yours, Damon." Celeste said sarcastically then grimaced in pain. A vision was happening again and this time it was much worse.

"Celeste, what's wrong?" Stefan asked in a concerned voice.

"It's happening again," She gasped out as she held her head in her hands with her eyes squeezed shut. Beginning to collapse, she felt arms catch her and gently lower her to the ground.

She began to see images of Elena again but this time she was hearing their conversation. The images were much more vivid and clear this time, as if she was actually in the room with Elena. Celeste watched Elena walk down a strange hallway. Elena seemed to be listening in on a conversation, which Celeste could hear as well.

"So that's it, Trevor. He either got it or he didn't. We just have to wait," The woman said to her companion, whose name Celeste now knew was Trevor.

Trevor looked at the woman with worry in his eyes. "Look it's not too late. We can leave it here. We don't have to go through with this."

The woman immediately shook her head and said in a raised voice, "I'm sick of running, Trevor! No more, it ends now."

"Yeah? Well running keeps us from dying." Trevor snapped.

The woman laid a hand on Trevor's shoulder and spoke, "Elijah's old school. If he accepts our deal, we're free."

Celeste mentally cursed as she watched Elena stepped on a floor board that squeaked causing the woman's head to whip immediately around and stare at her.

"You! There's nothing around here for miles. If you think you're getting out of this house, then you're tragically wrong. Understand?" The woman threatened.

Elena nodded then asked, "Who's Elijah?"

"He's your worst nightmare." The woman stated simply.

Celeste jerked awake with a gasp. She was met with the concerned eyes of Damon and Stefan. She was dismayed to realize that the visions were getting worse and she had no idea how to control them or why they were even happening to her.

"How long was I out?" She asked as she rubbed her head—the remnants of pain were quickly fading away.

"You collapsed on the ground then you lost consciousness. Did that happen last time?" Stefan asked worriedly.

Shaking her head, Celeste said, "No. Last time I stayed completely awake. This time it was as if I was actually there with Elena. Why is this happening? Do you think this is part of me being a half-angel?"

"I have no idea. But we need to find out what is going on with you before it gets out of control. Now what did you see when you were there with Elena?" Damon asked.

Celeste relayed the information to them about what the house looked like and the conversation she heard between Trevor and the woman.

"Well I think we should go grab Elena before this Elijah gets there." Damon stated.

"Right. Well I'm going to go talk to Bonnie," Stefan said before turning to Celeste, "You and Damon go find Alaric and stock up on some weapons and meet me later."

Celeste and Damon nodded and Stefan left to go find Bonnie while Damon called Alaric on his phone. After a brief conversation, Damon hung up the phone and turned towards Celeste.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Damon asked with narrowed eyes.

"Damon Salvatore, are you worried about me?" Celeste asked in mock surprise.

Damon rolled his eyes. "I'm serious. Are you okay?"

Taking a deep breath Celeste replied, "More or less, yes. I'm concerned that these visions have started happening and I didn't read about it at all in Isobel's research. I'm also confused as to why James disappeared without so much as a word, which makes me wonder what he's up to. But other than that, I'm just peachy." She finished with a sarcastic grin. "Now let's go meet Alaric and go find Elena. I've had enough of sharing time for one day."

88888888

Damon and Celeste met up with Alaric and grabbed the weapons and were now on their way to Alaric's classroom where Stefan was with Bonnie and Jeremy. When they arrived, Bonnie was using Jeremy's blood to do a locator spell to try to find where Elena was.

Watching in fascination as Bonnie did the spell, Celeste saw the drop of Jeremy's blood move towards a location on the map then suddenly stop.

"There. She's there," Bonnie stated and pointed to where it was on the map.

"That's 300 miles away," Jeremy said frustratingly.

Nodding in agreement Stefan added, "No Bonnie. We need a more exact location than that."

Bonnie shrugged her shoulders in helplessness. "That's as close as I can get."

"Elena is in an abandoned house. Why don't you guys map it, get an aerial view of the location, and look for any abandoned houses or mansions in that area. Meanwhile, Stefan, Damon, and I will leave since it's so far away and you can call us with whatever you find." Celeste suggested helpfully.

Jeremy shook his head. "No, I'm coming with you!"

Stefan shook his head. "No, no way, Jeremy. You need to stay here." Jeremy began to argue with Stefan.

Celeste glanced over at Bonnie and saw her hastily wipe away blood that was dripping from her nose. Celeste walked over there and pulled her aside from the guys arguing with each other and whispered harshly, "Bonnie, why is your nose bleeding? Is that because of the spell?"

"Nothing, I'm fine, Celeste." Bonnie brushed Celeste's hand off her arm.

"Bonnie. Tell me the truth, now." Celeste said in a commanding tone.

Bonnie sighed. "Alright, fine. Witchcraft has its limits, when I push sometimes it pushes back."

"You need to be careful Bonnie, okay? Know your limits." Celeste gave her a pointed look before walking over to the boys, who were still arguing, and physically pushing them away from each other.

"Jeremy, you are not going and that's final. Besides, you need to stay with Bonnie and keep an eye on everything…and her." She muttered the last part under her breath. "Now, we need to get going. Call us when you find out anything." She grabbed some of the weapons and walked out the door without another word. Shrugging his shoulders, Damon grabbed the rest of the weapons and followed Celeste out the door.

Laying a hand on Jeremy's shoulder, Stefan said, "We'll find her, okay? And we'll bring her back safe." Jeremy nodded and watched as Stefan walked out of the classroom as well.

88888888

Celeste had only been in the car with Stefan and Damon for a couple hours when she had decided to put ear phones in and fell into a deep sleep. Her sleep was peaceful but quickly interrupted by the sharp pains of the beginning of a vision. However, this time it was as if she couldn't wake up from her sleep and could only moan as the pain grew worse before it cut off and she began to see the vision. She saw Elena talking to the woman again and began to hear their conversation:

"Trevor and I have been running for 500 years. We're tired, we want it over. We're using you to negotiate ourselves out of an old mess." The woman explained.

A frown of confusion crossed Elena's face. "But why me?"

"Because you're a Petrova Doppelganger. You're the key to breaking the curse."

"The curse? The sun and the moon curse?" Elena asked in shock.

The woman looked at her with surprise in her eyes. "Oh, you do know your history."

Elena shook her head. "I can't be the key to breaking the curse. The moonstone is what breaks the curse."

"No, the moonstone is what binds the curse. The sacrifice is what breaks it." The woman corrected her.

"The sacrifice?" Elena asked hesitantly.

The woman nodded. "The blood of the Doppelganger. You're the Doppelganger. Which means, in order to break the curse you're the one who has to die."

Just like that the vision ended and Celeste jerked awake with her head pounding. She frustratingly realized that she hadn't even heard Elena and the woman's entire conversation—only the last part of it which was disconcerting enough on its own.

"You really should stop doing that." Damon said in a mocking tone, but his eyes showed concern as he stared at her in the rear view mirror.

"Well once I figure out how to stop, you'll be the first to know." Celeste said sarcastically as she rubbed the remnants of pain away from her head.

"What did you see this time? Elena again?" Stefan asked anxiously.

Celeste bit her lip. She had no idea how to tell them what she heard. She frowned and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"Celeste, what is it?" Damon asked in a worriedly when he saw the look on her face.

"Well, first of all I only heard the last part of this particular conversation…" Celeste began then told them what she had heard.

"Well that is an interesting development…" Damon remarked after Celeste had finished explaining.

"What do we do? We can't just let Elena die." Celeste said worriedly as she looked between Damon and Stefan.

"We go get her out of there, that's what we do." Stefan stated. Nodding Damon pressed on the gas and began to drive faster.

88888888

When they arrived at the house, they parked in the woods so they were concealed. Popping her head up between Stefan and Damon, Celeste asked, "So what's the plan, boys?"

Damon shook his head. "Uh-uh, there is no 'plan' with you. You are staying in the car, and the _boys_ are going to go in there and grab Elena and come back out."

"You must be mental if you think I'm staying in the car, Damon." Celeste ground out through her teeth.

"Damon's right, Celeste. We still don't know who can actually hurt you. For all we know, it could be a vampire who is 500 years old, or it could be Elijah. We can't protect you and Elena." Stefan explained sympathetically.

"Well that's nice and all, but the fact of the matter is, I can take care of myself. So what's the plan?" Celeste asked irritably.

Damon turned around and stared at Celeste, his blue eyes flashing. "Listen to me, Celeste. You are not leaving this car and that's final. I don't care if I have to knock you out myself, you will not step foot out of this car."

Taken aback by Damon's tone, Celeste nodded begrudgingly and sat back in the car. Sighing in relief, Damon and Stefan got out of the car, took one last glance at Celeste and then disappeared from her sight.

88888888

Celeste drummed her fingers on her leg impatiently. Significant time had passed and they still had not reappeared from going inside the house.

"Screw this." Celeste muttered to herself as she got out of the car and jogged over to the house. As she quietly approached the house, she could hear there was a struggle going on. She heard some sort of bomb go off and when she walked through the door she saw Stefan and who she surmised was Elijah, come tumbling down the stairs.

Quickly glancing around for some sort of weapon, her gaze fell on Damon who was standing in the hallway with a stake. Damon didn't say anything but his face said it all—Celeste knew he was angry. Before she could move towards him, she was grabbed from behind and dragged up and backwards to where her toes were just brushing the ground.

"Celeste Morrison, now this is a surprise. I've heard about you, you know." Elijah whispered in her ear. A look of surprise flashed over Celeste's face before she quickly covered it.

"Funny, I've never heard of you," Celeste snapped back at him. Elijah chuckled slightly then tightened his hold on her throat, causing her to choke slightly.

"Drop the stake, or she dies." Elijah growled looking at Damon who was holding the makeshift stake that was fashioned from a coat rack.

Celeste shook her head ever so slightly at Damon. She mouthed to him without making a noise, "Kill him." Damon's eyes narrowed at her.

"Was I not clear? Drop the stake now or her head is going to roll on this floor!" Elijah said in a dangerous tone.

"Do it, Damon." Celeste mouthed to him.

Indecision briefly flashed in Damon's eyes before he acted. Using his vampire speed, he charged Celeste and Elijah with the stake and thrust the stake through Celeste and Elijah, pinning them against the wall.

Celeste cried out as she felt the stake slice through her. Tears were running down her face as the pain overwhelmed her body. She briefly heard Damon say something to her before darkness claimed her.

"Dammit, Celeste! This is why you were supposed to stay in the car." Damon said in frustration as he pulled out the stake and caught her before she could fall. Picking her up, he turned around and saw Elena and Stefan embracing. Elena mouthed thanks to Damon and he merely smiled and winked in response.

88888888

Damon had brought Celeste safely back to the boarding house and laid her in his bed, waiting for her to wake up. As he was pouring himself a glass of scotch in the living room, he heard Stefan walk into the room.

"Where's Elena?" Damon asked as he sipped his scotch.

"She's home. Where's Celeste?" Stefan countered.

"She is safe in my bed, sleeping off the whole death thing. Why are you here and not with Elena?" Damon eyed him curiously over his cup.

Stefan shrugged his shoulders. "She wanted to be with Jeremy."

Nodding in understanding, Damon handed Stefan a glass of scotch. "Thanks. Listen, what Rose told Elena about the curse…" Stefan began to say before Damon cut him off.

"I know, we'll keep her safe."

"You know, the only way we're going to be able to do that is if we're not fighting each other. We let Katherine come between us. If we let that happen with Elena, we're not going to be able to protect her." Stefan explained, approaching the subject carefully.

Damon rolled his eyes. "Yes Stefan, I've heard it all before."

"Hey." Stefan said in a somewhat pleading voice.

Turning around, Damon eyed him suspiciously, "What?"

"I'm sorry," Stefan apologized genuinely.

Confused Damon asked, "About what?"

"For being the guy that made you turn 145 years ago," He replied.

"Enough Stef, it's late. Don't need to rehash that," Damon said in a bitter tone.

"You know what? I've never said it out loud. I just need to say it and you need to hear it. I'm sorry. What I did was selfish. I didn't want to be alone. I guess I just needed my brother." Stefan looked up at him, his eyes apologetic and honest. Damon nodded in acknowledgement before draining his glass and leaving the room.

88888888

Slowly blinking awake, Celeste glanced around her. She was in a soft bed that had four large wooden posts. There was a fireplace in the room as well as a large bathroom. Beside the bed was a night table with a pile of books on the ground beside it. Suddenly remembering what happened, she quickly felt her chest expecting to feel a gaping hole, but she had already healed. Although her chest had a tight soreness, she slowly sat up. She realized she must be in the Salvatore's house.

Looking up when she heard the door click open, she saw Damon walking in. "Ah so the angel has returned from the dead." He said sarcastically, with a slightly drunken slur.

"Thanks for letting me crash while I was... indisposed. I should probably go," Celeste said as she got up and began to pull her shoes on. When she straightened up, Damon was right in front of her face, his nose almost touching hers.

"You could stay you know," He whispered.

Celeste barely suppressed a gag when his breath hit her nose. "You're drunk, Damon. And I need to go," She jabbed a finger at his shoulder and pushed him away.

"Why can't I be selfish just once, Celeste? But I can't, because I don't deserve her…Stefan does. I'm supposed to be the bad brother, the dick. That's just who I am," Damon said in a frustrated tone as he paced back and forth.

Celeste eyed him with sympathy—something must have happened tonight with him and Elena. "What happened, Damon?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "Nothing. Nothing happened…nothing is _ever_ going to happen."

Shaking her head, Celeste replied, "Well if it's any consolation to you, I don't think you're a total dick. You have a good heart, Damon; you just hide it underneath an armor of dick-like features. Now, let's get you to bed." She grabbed his arm and guided him to his bed.

When she got him settled, she started to leave but a hand grabbed her wrist in an iron clad grip.

"Stay…" Damon mumbled in a semi-conscious voice.

"Damon, I have to go." Celeste said softly as she tried to pry his hand off of hers, but it wouldn't budge and now she couldn't shake him awake. She decided that the safest option was to just climb in the bed with him and make sure that he didn't get too grabby with her. Settling down in the bed, she smirked as he burrowed down deeper and threw an arm over her. Oh, it was going to be so fun teasing him about this the next morning. Celeste smiled to herself and let her eyes drift close.

_ A/N: Thank you for reading, please review! Have a great day wherever you are. _


End file.
